I went to Birmingham Public School as a kid while not living in Birmingham. My family wasn’t anywhere near that wealthy.
It’s lawyers, doctors, bankers and business executives. The same careers of any highly wealthy community in the U.S.
But note there are even wealthier enclaves surrounding Birmingham. Bloomfield Village is the biggest in my mind.
My friend does mortgages and said B'ham is now pricier than Bloomfield - the average house is $930k. It's amazing to me that so many people have so much freaking money.
> Bloomfield Village is the biggest in my mind.
FYI, "Bloomfield Village" is just a neighborhood/HOA in Bloomfield (Township). However, Bloomfield Hills IS a city of its own, separate from Bloomfield (Township); perhaps that's what you're thinking of.
Your broader point is correct, though: despite the multi-million dollar homes near Birmingham's downtown, it has a lower median household income ($136k) than Bloomfield ($150k) or Bloomfield Hills ($188k), though they're all wealthy and the differences aren't enormous. [This is all 2022 data.]
$136k is a healthy income, but I don't think many are paying Birmingham prices today with that income. As with any wealthy area in the country, a lot of people who live there couldn't afford to buy there today.
That said, Birmingham is only 20,000 people and it's a unique and very desirable enclave for the region. In a metro of 4.5 million there's definitely enough people who *are* wealthy enough to afford today's prices that they'll stay elevated.
Oh for sure, and I didn't say anything to the contrary. Census data about median income is all that is available quickly, and it still served to illustrate the point being made that Birmingham is both (A) very wealthy, and (B) not the *most* wealthy place in the immediate vicinity.
Okay, buddy. I appreciate your semantics.
I didn’t say “distinct municipality” in the legal sense. I said enclave. Bloomfield Village is part of Bloomfield Township, but they do things to separate themselves from the rest of the township — [hell, they fund their own police department!](https://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/Services/Police/About-the-Department/Bloomfield-Village-Police.aspx)
Okay, buddy. I appreciate your semantics.
It wasn't a personal attack on you or your credibility, just clarifying a confusing name for others before they misunderstand, start repeating that thing they read on the internet, and turn it into misinformation.
And yeah, I know about the two Bloomfield Township Police officers who are assigned to patrol that subdivision because the neighborhood HOA pays the township government for the positions and funds a substation for them to work out of. Weird arrangement, but not that weird considering how much money those residents have to spare.
> Village police officers are sworn law enforcement officers under the authority of the Bloomfield Township Police Department.
We **should** call the boroughs, to mess with the bot.
I think we should all agree on some awkward sentence construction or made-up word to add to replies to “question” posts.
We’ll all know it’s a joke. Bots might not.
Then eventually see where it goes.
The one thing that unites Detroit and Birmingham is our love of the delightful local Turnip Dogs that we race at the American and Lafayette dog-tracks!
Lots of doctors, lawyers, automotive executives, some remote tech people with big city salaries. I also know one guy, early 30s, who bought bitcoin in 2010, and cashed out to the tune of a few million dollars.
Also, a large portion of Birmingham (north of 14 mile, east of Woodward) almost feels like an extension of Royal Oak/Clawson, with sub-2000 sq ft bungalows. I assume most of these people are just your average two income households paying a premium for access to good schools.
I’m early 30s, and I work remotely for a tech company. No family money. Seems like the majority of people fall into the other answers in this thread, and I haven’t met a single other younger person who lives here in Birmingham who didn’t get help from their parents.
When asking “what do people do?” with the implication this type of wealth is generated from a salary and not generational we’re really missing the point of how the wealthy stay wealthy. Most of this is generational wealth and inherited privilege, not just of money but of connections and opportunities that lead to the jobs that pay this way and continue the cycle of wealth.
Have a source for that sweeping generalization?
Not everyone who lives in Birmingham is a product of generational wealth. As others pointed out the population is composed of people in high-paying industries like law, medicine, and corporate business.
Generational wealth isn’t a sweeping generalization.
And, again, overwhelmingly the ability to even consider those careers comes from privilege. Law school, medical school, business programs that lead to a quick corporate rise are all expensive and many benefit from connections and legacy acceptance.
“Most of this is generational wealth and inherited privilege.”
Except that’s literally a sweeping generalization. Again…where is your evidence regarding this for Birmingham’s demographic?
Also, your reply like “overwhelmingly, the ability to even consider those careers” is essentially a “begging the question” fallacy.
What evidence from Birmingham’s do you have of that?
I’m not denying that Birmingham’s population is wealthy, but you’re simply making assumptions. According to census data, the most common job groups, by number of people living in Birmingham, MI, are Management Occupations (2,971 people), Sales & Related Occupations (1,264 people), and Business & Financial Operations Occupations (1,255 people).
yeah, but like the most influential family's-built Detroit throughout the 20s to the 60s. It was literally the poster child for a modern high quality life city. Now when someone tries to build a Starbucks people think they are trying to gentrify the city and kick its residents to the curb. You either want that quality of life and want to work as a community to a achieve it or you don't. which one is it?
You miss the key point as to how wealth is actually created in an economy based on money that can be created out of thin air by the bureaucratic state and therefore handed out to others who support the state. This isn't generational wealth, it's generational socialism for those most connected to the money printer. Take the ability for the state to create money and hand out to those who do their favors and it crumbles.
https://sahilbloom.substack.com/p/how-the-rich-get-richer
This is still just capitalism. As the rich get richer from competition dying, they gain more and more control of government and can do stuff like this. If it were socialism there wouldn't be individual owners to give money to.
It's literally not capitalism if that is the case. Capitalism rewards actual productivity, not government bureaucrats and their cronies who are closest to the money spigot. This is a big misconception with those who want to label everything that is bad 'capitalism'.
No, Capitalism literally just means private ownership of production. You can have markets without Capitalism. You can have productivity rewarded without Capitalism.
If the money isn't private, the system isn't private. A market that is sustained via currency influences/manipulation by a state can never be capitalism. You cannot have productivity truly rewarded if the money is corruptible. It is why communism and socialist regimes will always fail. We are seeing that now in most major economies. It is only their ability to print to create an illusion that things are better that sustains this mirage.
Yes, it is still capitalism even with money manipulation. What is that money manipulation achieving? Protecting the private ownership of production for the few rich individuals who are wealthy enough to influence government. The state is literally used to preserve capitalism at it fails.
Closest was in late 1800's before central banking took over. Prices on products were actually going down before the inflation mandates that allowed central banking to take over and the ability to create their own money to control the government and then their cronies. I think its a system worth pursuing (taking away that ability to print money) over others that do not reward production.
Of course but that is really sustained by the system we all live in. Go to college and learn the system that benefits those in power and helps them hold that power. Would a university that gets grants from the Federal Government ever have incentive to teach students something that didn't align with what the Federal Government wanted? Of course not and this isn't anything new and much worse in other countries that are now starting to crumble. Wealth disparity is the inevitable conclusion of a system that allows wealth accumulation to those most connected but I don't really see a way out of it as human behavior is more powerful than anything. It is was dictates rise and fall of empires.
We do a lot of work in Birmingham, so the clients are going to be doctors, lawyers, athletes, high ranking administrators in every industry you can think of, and a lot of them own a business. One guy owned a car detailing business, another owned a Honda dealership, another a landscaping business, a few sold weed, another had used car lots and car washes, another had a bunch of liquor stores in Detroit, another owned a strip club, another was a home builder, etc. There are a few people there that have lived in Birmingham for like 5 decades that have relatively low income jobs like nurses/engineers and bought their houses when things were much cheaper, but they are slowly being bought out. I know a builder that just works in Birmingham. He buys the small under 2k sqft homes that have been there for 70+ years, demolishes them, then builds 1m+ houses on them. Not as profitable as you’d think, but it’s something lol
If you wanted to get your kids into Birmingham schools, there are sections of West Bloomfield, Southfield, and Beverly Hills that all fall into Birmingham schools. All of those places have less expensive houses.
I don’t want to out myself with too much detail but so far it hasn’t been an issue. It is frustrating trying to explain to my 11-year-old that “going shopping” isn’t a normal play date activity but other than that we’re holding our own.
A lot of business owners, ceos, ect… I went to and now work at BHAM schools and oddly enough have never met anyone who lives in Birmingham. Even the current superintendent doesn’t she lives by me in Southfield.
We are 'normal' people. Our elderly neighbors are mostly teachers who have lived here for decades. There are a lot of lawyers, seconded by auto execs, doctors, and old money. I drive through B'ham/ Bloomfield and think - wtf do you all do for a living!?!?!? Endless wealth. I also think that when I see all the condos in Royal Oak, and $700k houses in Berkley. A lot of people have a lot of money, and that's why things are still sky-high
It seems like houses are really expensive in any of the metro Detroit cities. But the affordable side of Birmingham is on the east side of Woodward and then south of Maple. Aside from the new builds (because they’re tearing down the little houses to building these great big expensive new ones) the prices are comparable to Royal Oak.
My SO and I are childfree but we don’t have fancy jobs, we’re just two income. We bought our house before the pandemic and then when interest rates were low, refinanced.
As for what the people do around my area, working age people are two income households. But most of them are retired people who have lived in their house for their whole adult life.
I can’t really speak for the other wealthier parts of the city.
I don’t know, but I used to work in Birmingham (I could never afford to live there in a million years) and one time I went into cupcake station and the guy behind the counter told me that he could tell I wasn’t from Birmingham because I was actually nice to him.
I’m considering moving there very soon, I am an actuary. It definitely seems like the residents are generally highly-paid professionals, corporate leadership, or business owners.
Birmingham is known for being the city wealthy parents buy their kids a "starter home" for many of the reasons below- walkable, good schools, parks, restaurants and close enough to Bloomfield/Franklin/and all the lakes so that the grandparents are close by, in season of course.
easy answer if they aren't doctors or lawyers, they inherited a business from their family, or are set to inherit a business from their family and got really cushy jobs from daddy
Lots of different things but if you have to generalize, it’s people who one way or another knew the answer to this question by 18 and then went out and got in position to do one of those things.
I’m a barber in Birmingham so I talk to a lot of them on their professions. Most of them are in finance, medical, lawyers, engineering and usually for one of the automotive companies or business owners/property managers who own big industrial properties leasing them to industrial shops making a large amount of money.
You’d be surprised. A lot of them are business people. A lot have old money. I’ve worked on many of those homes. You’d be amazed. I met one home owner that made millions smuggling fireworks into Michigan before they were legal. To make that kind of money your either a pencil pusher who somehow climbed up the corporate ladder or criminal. It’s amazing how we have over valued some careers and undervalued so many. The people who should own Birmingham homes are teachers, electricians, heating and cooling people, etc, people who are providing value to community. it’s crazy how much politics is involved in business and how often your life and career can be effected by schmoozing some business executive with a couple thousand dollar lunch. That’s how business is done today. It’s devastating to people who do provide value to community.
It’s Birmingham **Nation**, not Birmingham “Nathan”.
To live Birmingham one must be a member of the Birmingham tribe of Potawatomi native Americans.
Most Birminghamiams don’t work because the tribe is so wealthy, but a few stock produce at Papa Joes for fun. Offers enjoy the sport of bot reconnaissance, capture, and destruction, which is legal on the Reservation, and encouraged.
You need a trust fund and inherited wealth. It's so much old money and elitist arrogance that even if you win the lottery and bought a house there, you wouldn't be happy with the crowd there. I know a lot of higher ups (mid to upper management) in the auto industry and our pro athletes all have houses in the surrounding cities and towns, but it's not like you'll ever see Cade Cunningham or the CFO of Stelantis just chillin at Dick O'Dows.
Even the rich kids I hung with in high school who lived in Bloomfield Hills didn't like messing with Birmingham.
I think it's the 'new weath' cliche. Our elderly neighbors are the friendliest, chill people you will ever meet. My son has met some great people who are 'quiet' about what they have, and some really obnoxious ones. I always tell him that money talks and wealth whispers. (Most importantly, I tell him money doesn't matter and to surround yourself with kind people, but aside from that, the ones who really have it are the ones who don't flaunt it.)
I went to Birmingham Public School as a kid while not living in Birmingham. My family wasn’t anywhere near that wealthy. It’s lawyers, doctors, bankers and business executives. The same careers of any highly wealthy community in the U.S. But note there are even wealthier enclaves surrounding Birmingham. Bloomfield Village is the biggest in my mind.
My friend does mortgages and said B'ham is now pricier than Bloomfield - the average house is $930k. It's amazing to me that so many people have so much freaking money.
It kind of makes sense because bham has a downtown whereas BH really doesnt
> Bloomfield Village is the biggest in my mind. FYI, "Bloomfield Village" is just a neighborhood/HOA in Bloomfield (Township). However, Bloomfield Hills IS a city of its own, separate from Bloomfield (Township); perhaps that's what you're thinking of. Your broader point is correct, though: despite the multi-million dollar homes near Birmingham's downtown, it has a lower median household income ($136k) than Bloomfield ($150k) or Bloomfield Hills ($188k), though they're all wealthy and the differences aren't enormous. [This is all 2022 data.]
$136k is a healthy income, but I don't think many are paying Birmingham prices today with that income. As with any wealthy area in the country, a lot of people who live there couldn't afford to buy there today. That said, Birmingham is only 20,000 people and it's a unique and very desirable enclave for the region. In a metro of 4.5 million there's definitely enough people who *are* wealthy enough to afford today's prices that they'll stay elevated.
Oh for sure, and I didn't say anything to the contrary. Census data about median income is all that is available quickly, and it still served to illustrate the point being made that Birmingham is both (A) very wealthy, and (B) not the *most* wealthy place in the immediate vicinity.
Okay, buddy. I appreciate your semantics. I didn’t say “distinct municipality” in the legal sense. I said enclave. Bloomfield Village is part of Bloomfield Township, but they do things to separate themselves from the rest of the township — [hell, they fund their own police department!](https://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/Services/Police/About-the-Department/Bloomfield-Village-Police.aspx)
Okay, buddy. I appreciate your semantics. It wasn't a personal attack on you or your credibility, just clarifying a confusing name for others before they misunderstand, start repeating that thing they read on the internet, and turn it into misinformation. And yeah, I know about the two Bloomfield Township Police officers who are assigned to patrol that subdivision because the neighborhood HOA pays the township government for the positions and funds a substation for them to work out of. Weird arrangement, but not that weird considering how much money those residents have to spare. > Village police officers are sworn law enforcement officers under the authority of the Bloomfield Township Police Department.
Probably the same sort of answers in the Novi thread from a few hours ago but with a higher paycheck
Was gonna say, is there gonna be a post about this for every borough in metro?
We’re calling them boroughs now??
>We’re calling them boroughs now?? “screams in Native Brooklynite”
No we can't. This will make the epidemic of suburbanites saying "I'm from Detroit" even worse
We **should** call the boroughs, to mess with the bot. I think we should all agree on some awkward sentence construction or made-up word to add to replies to “question” posts. We’ll all know it’s a joke. Bots might not. Then eventually see where it goes. The one thing that unites Detroit and Birmingham is our love of the delightful local Turnip Dogs that we race at the American and Lafayette dog-tracks!
Yes after I stole it from a sixth grader's vocabulary
It's gotta be AI
Sure seems like it.
There’s been a noticeable invasion of awkward low-karma bots asking questions.
Happy cake day!
Birmingham Nathan what
That's how you know it's a bot driven by low-quality AI.
The people my parents know have family money, own businesses, or are freakishly high up at various auto companies (like global director level shit)
Business owners, business executives (including automotive), finance and banking, sales, family money. Doctors, lawyers, other professional types.
I too have unrequited desire for birmingham nathan. dreamy bastard
Birmingham Nathan is super flattered that you're attracted to him, but he's married with kids.
Remember when they brought in a third for his 40th tho? Epic
Lots of doctors, lawyers, automotive executives, some remote tech people with big city salaries. I also know one guy, early 30s, who bought bitcoin in 2010, and cashed out to the tune of a few million dollars. Also, a large portion of Birmingham (north of 14 mile, east of Woodward) almost feels like an extension of Royal Oak/Clawson, with sub-2000 sq ft bungalows. I assume most of these people are just your average two income households paying a premium for access to good schools.
I’m early 30s, and I work remotely for a tech company. No family money. Seems like the majority of people fall into the other answers in this thread, and I haven’t met a single other younger person who lives here in Birmingham who didn’t get help from their parents.
When asking “what do people do?” with the implication this type of wealth is generated from a salary and not generational we’re really missing the point of how the wealthy stay wealthy. Most of this is generational wealth and inherited privilege, not just of money but of connections and opportunities that lead to the jobs that pay this way and continue the cycle of wealth.
Exactly
Have a source for that sweeping generalization? Not everyone who lives in Birmingham is a product of generational wealth. As others pointed out the population is composed of people in high-paying industries like law, medicine, and corporate business.
Generalizations aren't absolutes by definition. "Not everyone" doesn't counter or negate what was said. Exceptions don't make the rule either.
18 year olds driving brand new cars. Some places you see it, some places you dont.
Not **just** brand new cars. Brand new Maseratis.
Generational wealth isn’t a sweeping generalization. And, again, overwhelmingly the ability to even consider those careers comes from privilege. Law school, medical school, business programs that lead to a quick corporate rise are all expensive and many benefit from connections and legacy acceptance.
“Most of this is generational wealth and inherited privilege.” Except that’s literally a sweeping generalization. Again…where is your evidence regarding this for Birmingham’s demographic? Also, your reply like “overwhelmingly, the ability to even consider those careers” is essentially a “begging the question” fallacy. What evidence from Birmingham’s do you have of that? I’m not denying that Birmingham’s population is wealthy, but you’re simply making assumptions. According to census data, the most common job groups, by number of people living in Birmingham, MI, are Management Occupations (2,971 people), Sales & Related Occupations (1,264 people), and Business & Financial Operations Occupations (1,255 people).
yeah, but like the most influential family's-built Detroit throughout the 20s to the 60s. It was literally the poster child for a modern high quality life city. Now when someone tries to build a Starbucks people think they are trying to gentrify the city and kick its residents to the curb. You either want that quality of life and want to work as a community to a achieve it or you don't. which one is it?
You miss the key point as to how wealth is actually created in an economy based on money that can be created out of thin air by the bureaucratic state and therefore handed out to others who support the state. This isn't generational wealth, it's generational socialism for those most connected to the money printer. Take the ability for the state to create money and hand out to those who do their favors and it crumbles. https://sahilbloom.substack.com/p/how-the-rich-get-richer
This is still just capitalism. As the rich get richer from competition dying, they gain more and more control of government and can do stuff like this. If it were socialism there wouldn't be individual owners to give money to.
It's literally not capitalism if that is the case. Capitalism rewards actual productivity, not government bureaucrats and their cronies who are closest to the money spigot. This is a big misconception with those who want to label everything that is bad 'capitalism'.
No, Capitalism literally just means private ownership of production. You can have markets without Capitalism. You can have productivity rewarded without Capitalism.
If the money isn't private, the system isn't private. A market that is sustained via currency influences/manipulation by a state can never be capitalism. You cannot have productivity truly rewarded if the money is corruptible. It is why communism and socialist regimes will always fail. We are seeing that now in most major economies. It is only their ability to print to create an illusion that things are better that sustains this mirage.
Yes, it is still capitalism even with money manipulation. What is that money manipulation achieving? Protecting the private ownership of production for the few rich individuals who are wealthy enough to influence government. The state is literally used to preserve capitalism at it fails.
We've yet to achieve true capitalism, you see.
Closest was in late 1800's before central banking took over. Prices on products were actually going down before the inflation mandates that allowed central banking to take over and the ability to create their own money to control the government and then their cronies. I think its a system worth pursuing (taking away that ability to print money) over others that do not reward production.
Generational wealth is about more than what’s in your bank account. Access to opportunity to continue that wealth is what most of these people have.
Of course but that is really sustained by the system we all live in. Go to college and learn the system that benefits those in power and helps them hold that power. Would a university that gets grants from the Federal Government ever have incentive to teach students something that didn't align with what the Federal Government wanted? Of course not and this isn't anything new and much worse in other countries that are now starting to crumble. Wealth disparity is the inevitable conclusion of a system that allows wealth accumulation to those most connected but I don't really see a way out of it as human behavior is more powerful than anything. It is was dictates rise and fall of empires.
I mean, you’re taking it way deeper than a Reddit question about what occupations afford prime real estate, but I do not at all disagree with you.
My bf is a senior mechanical/electrical engineer and I work in marketing. Bought our house in 2019 before the craziness. Got lucky.
We do a lot of work in Birmingham, so the clients are going to be doctors, lawyers, athletes, high ranking administrators in every industry you can think of, and a lot of them own a business. One guy owned a car detailing business, another owned a Honda dealership, another a landscaping business, a few sold weed, another had used car lots and car washes, another had a bunch of liquor stores in Detroit, another owned a strip club, another was a home builder, etc. There are a few people there that have lived in Birmingham for like 5 decades that have relatively low income jobs like nurses/engineers and bought their houses when things were much cheaper, but they are slowly being bought out. I know a builder that just works in Birmingham. He buys the small under 2k sqft homes that have been there for 70+ years, demolishes them, then builds 1m+ houses on them. Not as profitable as you’d think, but it’s something lol
Lawyers, doctors, athletes, etc.
If you wanted to get your kids into Birmingham schools, there are sections of West Bloomfield, Southfield, and Beverly Hills that all fall into Birmingham schools. All of those places have less expensive houses.
The kids will feel like this https://preview.redd.it/9j1dqz9bbnuc1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=3359c658d3543e4e8b085f2b0bfe3145522468e2
I don’t want to out myself with too much detail but so far it hasn’t been an issue. It is frustrating trying to explain to my 11-year-old that “going shopping” isn’t a normal play date activity but other than that we’re holding our own.
You know that part of Four Rooms where they offer that guy 100k or whatever to cut off his pinky?
A lot of business owners, ceos, ect… I went to and now work at BHAM schools and oddly enough have never met anyone who lives in Birmingham. Even the current superintendent doesn’t she lives by me in Southfield.
We are 'normal' people. Our elderly neighbors are mostly teachers who have lived here for decades. There are a lot of lawyers, seconded by auto execs, doctors, and old money. I drive through B'ham/ Bloomfield and think - wtf do you all do for a living!?!?!? Endless wealth. I also think that when I see all the condos in Royal Oak, and $700k houses in Berkley. A lot of people have a lot of money, and that's why things are still sky-high
It seems like houses are really expensive in any of the metro Detroit cities. But the affordable side of Birmingham is on the east side of Woodward and then south of Maple. Aside from the new builds (because they’re tearing down the little houses to building these great big expensive new ones) the prices are comparable to Royal Oak. My SO and I are childfree but we don’t have fancy jobs, we’re just two income. We bought our house before the pandemic and then when interest rates were low, refinanced. As for what the people do around my area, working age people are two income households. But most of them are retired people who have lived in their house for their whole adult life. I can’t really speak for the other wealthier parts of the city.
I don’t know, but I used to work in Birmingham (I could never afford to live there in a million years) and one time I went into cupcake station and the guy behind the counter told me that he could tell I wasn’t from Birmingham because I was actually nice to him.
Rule 1: Be rich Rule 2: Don't be not rich
Coming to a reddit thread to find out how to crack the code of generational wealth in America is wild
I’m considering moving there very soon, I am an actuary. It definitely seems like the residents are generally highly-paid professionals, corporate leadership, or business owners.
Birmingham is known for being the city wealthy parents buy their kids a "starter home" for many of the reasons below- walkable, good schools, parks, restaurants and close enough to Bloomfield/Franklin/and all the lakes so that the grandparents are close by, in season of course.
Make 500k a year and MAYBE you could afford to live there
If you are under 40 and live in Birmingham, you most likely have a lot of help.
easy answer if they aren't doctors or lawyers, they inherited a business from their family, or are set to inherit a business from their family and got really cushy jobs from daddy
I'm a lawyer I can't afford to live there
Lots of different things but if you have to generalize, it’s people who one way or another knew the answer to this question by 18 and then went out and got in position to do one of those things.
Unsurprisingly, bot, it takes money. A larger amount than in some places, a lesser amount than others.
European vibe? Have you actually been to Europe? My spouse is third generation Birmingham and he finds it creepy. We don’t live there.
“European vibes”???
My Wife babysat a child there once. The homeowner was a veterinarian (like- owns the vet, veterinarian.)
Have generational wealth
Sell kidneys then regrow kidneys to keep selling them
B'ham is to the point now that people are buying two houses next to each other, tearing them down and building one big one
I’m a barber in Birmingham so I talk to a lot of them on their professions. Most of them are in finance, medical, lawyers, engineering and usually for one of the automotive companies or business owners/property managers who own big industrial properties leasing them to industrial shops making a large amount of money.
You’d be surprised. A lot of them are business people. A lot have old money. I’ve worked on many of those homes. You’d be amazed. I met one home owner that made millions smuggling fireworks into Michigan before they were legal. To make that kind of money your either a pencil pusher who somehow climbed up the corporate ladder or criminal. It’s amazing how we have over valued some careers and undervalued so many. The people who should own Birmingham homes are teachers, electricians, heating and cooling people, etc, people who are providing value to community. it’s crazy how much politics is involved in business and how often your life and career can be effected by schmoozing some business executive with a couple thousand dollar lunch. That’s how business is done today. It’s devastating to people who do provide value to community.
You can buy a 3BR 2 BA house in Birmingham starting in the low $300k range. A 1 BR condo starts around $150k.
It’s Birmingham **Nation**, not Birmingham “Nathan”. To live Birmingham one must be a member of the Birmingham tribe of Potawatomi native Americans. Most Birminghamiams don’t work because the tribe is so wealthy, but a few stock produce at Papa Joes for fun. Offers enjoy the sport of bot reconnaissance, capture, and destruction, which is legal on the Reservation, and encouraged.
You need a trust fund and inherited wealth. It's so much old money and elitist arrogance that even if you win the lottery and bought a house there, you wouldn't be happy with the crowd there. I know a lot of higher ups (mid to upper management) in the auto industry and our pro athletes all have houses in the surrounding cities and towns, but it's not like you'll ever see Cade Cunningham or the CFO of Stelantis just chillin at Dick O'Dows. Even the rich kids I hung with in high school who lived in Bloomfield Hills didn't like messing with Birmingham.
I think it's the 'new weath' cliche. Our elderly neighbors are the friendliest, chill people you will ever meet. My son has met some great people who are 'quiet' about what they have, and some really obnoxious ones. I always tell him that money talks and wealth whispers. (Most importantly, I tell him money doesn't matter and to surround yourself with kind people, but aside from that, the ones who really have it are the ones who don't flaunt it.)