Why do so many americans live paycheck to paycheck despite high salaries and resonable cost of living?

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Some seems to say that over half americans, maybe up to 60-70% live paycheck to paycheck including many with salaries above $100k.

Yet even including things like cars, healthcare and student debt americans probably come ahead people of other countries due to higher wages and lower taxes and some things like houses even seems cheaper in USA than peer countries.

It do seems to me that americans live more extravegant than people in peer countries but is that the reason for financial struggle?

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Dutchgamer1982 a écrit :

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There are more americans earning $200k than there are earning federal minimum wage of $7.25, keep in mind many states have their own higher minimum wage.

I repeat again..

despite 29% of americans earning an income over 100.000 dollar a month while for dutch it is only 2%

the median dutch income is 50000 dollar and the average dutch income is 54000 dollar.
meanwhile the average american income is 34000 dollar.

on top of that the dutch income does not include what they get towards their pension.. and they get free education and healthcare, excelent labourrights and 6 weeks paid off per year and unlimited paid off sickdays

Median personal earning for USA age 16 and over according to U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS was $1.145 in fourth quarter of 2023 which is about $57 000 for 50 weeks pay.

Median personal income for age 15 and above according to FRED was $40480 in 2022.

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS also have percentile estimations from March 2023 which have both salary and benefits counted in.

Bottom 10% $16.5/h
Median $32.8/h
Average $43/h
90% $82.96/h

For 2000h work that would be

Bottom 10% $33000
Median $65600
Average $86000
90% $165920

Although those numbers also have the benefits which is something like 25-30% of the compensation and americans on average work more like 1700h rather than 2000h.

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Tito Shivan a écrit :

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There are more americans earning $200k than there are earning federal minimum wage of $7.25, keep in mind many states have their own higher minimum wage.

That doesn't add up with annual median household income being just over $74K during 2022.
https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2023/demo/p60-279.html

Median is not affected by what top or bottom earns unlike average and USA I think have a particular big gap between median and average due to inequality.

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Said that 1 million out of 78.7 million workers age 16 or above earned federal minimum wage or less, so not even 2% of the workforce.

Because federal minimum wage is so low nowdays only very few people actually earn it, in the past when it was more in line with median income a larger part of the workforce earned it.

This also assume people are actually working as people who not working can have very low incomes.

For $200k there is not as great information how many that earn that much as USA is more focused on household income than personal income but most sources seems to say atleast 5% americans earn that much and U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS say software developers at 90% percentile earn about that much, meaning regular jobs do pay $200k. Bottom 10% percentile for software developers is however $77k so not even half of what top 10% make, again high inequality seen in a single profession.

[Mega Ultra Chicken]

The population in the Western world is collapsing. The cost of living is becoming too expensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZORu7EkpyM&t=32s

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$200k salary let you save something like $60-70k per year and still have $60-50k left over, which is still more than the median american have which is enough to make you into a millionare by investing at a modest 7% return on investment after the point you can pretty much retire in a cheaper country or keep working and have even more money.

[Cee]

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Dutchgamer1982 a écrit :

I repeat again..

despite 29% of americans earning an income over 100.000 dollar a month while for dutch it is only 2%

the median dutch income is 50000 dollar and the average dutch income is 54000 dollar.
meanwhile the average american income is 34000 dollar.

on top of that the dutch income does not include what they get towards their pension.. and they get free education and healthcare, excelent labourrights and 6 weeks paid off per year and unlimited paid off sickdays

Median personal earning for USA age 16 and over according to U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS was $1.145 in fourth quarter of 2023 which is about $57 000 for 50 weeks pay.

Median personal income for age 15 and above according to FRED was $40480 in 2022.

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS also have percentile estimations from March 2023 which have both salary and benefits counted in.

Bottom 10% $16.5/h
Median $32.8/h
Average $43/h
90% $82.96/h

For 2000h work that would be

Bottom 10% $33000
Median $65600
Average $86000
90% $165920

Although those numbers also have the benefits which is something like 25-30% of the compensation and americans on average work more like 1700h rather than 2000h.

median is 33 per hour? bottom 10% is 17 bucks? average being 43? uh huh

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lobotomy engineer a écrit :

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Median personal earning for USA age 16 and over according to U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS was $1.145 in fourth quarter of 2023 which is about $57 000 for 50 weeks pay.

Median personal income for age 15 and above according to FRED was $40480 in 2022.

U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS also have percentile estimations from March 2023 which have both salary and benefits counted in.

Bottom 10% $16.5/h
Median $32.8/h
Average $43/h
90% $82.96/h

For 2000h work that would be

Bottom 10% $33000
Median $65600
Average $86000
90% $165920

Although those numbers also have the benefits which is something like 25-30% of the compensation and americans on average work more like 1700h rather than 2000h.

median is 33 per hour? bottom 10% is 17 bucks? average being 43? uh huh

That is not just salary but also other benefits, just salary it would be something in the 20s for median and 30s for average I think.

USA also don't have the best population to employment ratio despite its low unemployment, a lot of americans seems to be outside the workforce and those probably have significantly lower incomes.

[tf2 pomson enjoyer #FIXVACPLS]

Rent goes up, wages don't.

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tf2 pomson enjoyer #FIXTF2 a écrit :

Rent goes up, wages don't.

Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private (CES0500000003) From FRED say it was $20.05 March 2006 and $34.91 in April 2024 so it seems like wages have gone up.

[tf2 pomson enjoyer #FIXVACPLS]

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tf2 pomson enjoyer #FIXTF2 a écrit :

Rent goes up, wages don't.

Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private (CES0500000003) From FRED say it was $20.05 March 2006 and $34.91 in April 2024 so it seems like wages have gone up.

from what i've heard rent goes up and inflation causes other problems making this entirely worthless

[Moogal™]

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It do seems to me that americans live more extravegant than people in peer countries but is that the reason for financial struggle?

I suppose that is partially true?

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Moogal™ a écrit :

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It do seems to me that americans live more extravegant than people in peer countries but is that the reason for financial struggle?

I suppose that is partially true?

It is very much true compared to Europe, although the enviromental impact of it is bad, significantly worse than europe which is already pretty bad. Stuff like cars are viewed much more like luxuries in europe but necessary in most of USA.

My american co-workers are paid like $200k so they have it far better than people doing the same job in europe but on other hand have to live in a more dystopian society.

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tf2 pomson enjoyer #FIXTF2 a écrit :

Will be deleted a écrit :

Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private (CES0500000003) From FRED say it was $20.05 March 2006 and $34.91 in April 2024 so it seems like wages have gone up.

from what i've heard rent goes up and inflation causes other problems making this entirely worthless

Probably depend where you live, certain places seems to have far worse rent than others while wages are probably no better for most people.

[Dutchgamer1982]

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Moogal™ a écrit :

I suppose that is partially true?

It is very much true compared to Europe, although the enviromental impact of it is bad, significantly worse than europe which is already pretty bad. Stuff like cars are viewed much more like luxuries in europe but necessary in most of USA.

by the way urban planning is done in usa cars ARE a neccecity there..
walking or biking in usa is a deathtrap and often not even possible..

everything is designed with the car in mind...

that include where things are... by having 2/3d of cities being parking spots.. and by having malls, office districts, and suburbs all strictly seperated.. one does not simply hop on a bike and go to the supermarket around the corner of walk to your primary school..

EVERY trip in usa takes you at least 30 minutes... not cause the nation is big but cause the layout of their cities is done stupidly to make you as car dependent as possible

their public transport is also terrible compared to that in europe.

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You can buy a decent new car for like $30k which is zero issue for people earning $200k who can just buy it in cash, on other hand it is for sure an issue for the people with low incomes, like USA seems by design to make it really hard to live on low incomes more so than other countries.

Like USA life expectency is like 30 years behind in development compared to like the nordic countries.

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Eld3r a écrit :

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$200k salary let you save something like $60-70k per year and still have $60-50k left over, which is still more than the median american have which is enough to make you into a millionare by investing at a modest 7% return on investment after the point you can pretty much retire in a cheaper country or keep working and have even more money.

that salary might let disciplined people invest that much annually but i feel that is not the norm in the US

Likely the people who actually manage to earn that much are more disicplined than average.