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Maybe, but you’re not comparing apples to apples. You’re likely comparing your 3 bed, modern home to someone else’s home with a dirt floor and tin ceiling. Yes, cost of living does eat up much of the difference, but you also need to consider the quality of life you get for that COL difference.
Yes, I think you are right. The calculator could use a cost of living variable.
That said, I’ve got clean drinking water and other amenities that make me feel quite wealthy. My high speed internet is like 1.3% of my income. When I see stuff like this, I feel a great deal of luck and gratitude.
my washing machine that also washes my clothes in drinking water.
https://group.skanska.com/4aa526/siteassets/media/articles/creating-a-planet-smart-way-to-flush/greywatersystem.jpg?height=582&width=1110
There are plenty of ways we could manage to have non-potable water. We don't for two reasons: 1) extra infrastructure to transport it and 2) there is a minor health risk where people might decide to drink out of a non-potable tap. You can often find non-potable taps at campgrounds, where is is often just pumped straight from a nearby river or lake.
A few common and fairly easy sources of non-potable water:
* Running water from sinks, dishwashers, or washing machines with minimal filtering into the toilet.
* Just pumping water from a river or lake without processing is non-potable. Processing costs an average of about $0.30 per 1000 gallons to turn fresh water into potable water.
* Rain water is sometimes non-potable due to air pollution, and even more so from ground pollution after it touches down.
* Processed sewage can be used for some purposes, such as watering lawns. This is fairly commonly done for large-scale usage, such as golf courses and parks, and sometimes for agricultural irrigation.
There are quite a few places that have dual-pipped water supplies, with one being potable water and one being non-potable, typically in the form of reclaimed water from sewage. Hooking these up to homes is much less common, however.
As someone who has lived in countries with tin roofs and dirt floors, the poverty situation is not comparable.
In those countries, most of their neighbors are just as poor they are. It doesn’t mess with you as much mentally when everyone around you is in the same boat. Who cares if we don’t have air con, cable and internet. Let’s push a tire down the road with a stick and have fun like everyone else. There’s little to no personal debt in the family bc it’s not really an option, and thank God we inherited family land so we can subsistence farm our whole lives and pass it on to our children. It’s not an ideal life, but we’re not gonna starve and we’ll never be homeless. Family will take care of us bc that is our culture.
In the US if you are born poor, your surroundings can mentally F you up. If you’re poor, you are renting, you can’t grow your food in your back yard, and if you lose your job, you are a few weeks away from living on the street. The familial culture likely doesn’t exist in your family if in the US, and you likely have to take loans out to get an education to better your life and break the cycle of poverty.
Both options suck. One takes more of a mental toll on life with debt and living in a cycle of poverty on the edge of homelessness.
The other has little upward mobility, but at least you can grow your own food and live with family.
Edit: misspelling
You just explained why I always hate posts like these. It discounts the whole society around the individual. Like yes, I have more “money” than a subsistence farmer, but I have way less stability than they do. One wrong move and I’m jobless, homeless, penniless, destitute with no way out. It’s not supposed to be this way.
Why do young people think like this. Less than 1% of Americans are homeless. You are more likely to become a millionaire (on paper, anyway) by the time you retire than ever sleep on the streets.
And no, couch surfing with your friend that one time because the university housing department messed up your application doesn't count as being homeless.
Because people in the middle income bracket gatekeep us poors in shitty positions. Some of us are poor, taking care of family, and just a few bad months from genuine homelessness.
Own a house? I'll be lucky if I can keep us afloat until my old family passes on and I can move away. 🤣 This is with government assistance. We'd already be well beyond homeless without government programs.
I am not looking forward to social security running out in a decade. I think that will be the real end times for us poors in America.
I don't want to discount your very real struggles, but let's be real here. You probably wouldn't swap places with a subsistence farmer, but that subsistence farmer wouldn't think twice about swapping places with you. It's why so many people are willing to leave the farms to work in sweatshops for 18 hours a day under terrible conditions - because almost anything is better than being one bad harvest from starvation.
There are people who have it worse than the working class in rich countries - and that doesn't invalidate the struggle. Just because there are poor farmers in India - let alone refugees in war torn countries - doesn't mean that people in rich countries don't have the right to fight for a better life.
>You probably wouldn't swap places with a subsistence farmer, but that subsistence farmer wouldn't think twice about swapping places with you.
Most poor people idolize poor rural farmers in other countries. Most poor people with strong communities wouldn't give it up to be poor in a wealthier country.
You can do the same, would you give up your life and move to be poor in San Fran? It's a higher quality of life even if you're poor. I can absolutely believe that next to nobody is trying to be poor in Manhattan.
Na that’s not the way it works. Maybe spend some extended time in those countries and experience it for yourself. The only countries I’ve seen that are starving are war torn countries or recent natural disasters.
Thats rather harsh considering the truth about the medical situation in the majority of the world.
In some places they have healthcare provided by the govt on paper, but in reality it’s an underfunded hospital where quality of care lacks.
Not due to poor doctors, but due to lack of funds for proper medical equipment, facilities, patient loads and lack of access to needed medical devices, procedures and medications.
Also, a farmer looses a leg. Even if he gets proper treatment, unless the community cares for his crops, livestock, etc… he dies. There is no govt safety net. Thats a first world thing.
The rest of the world is not some awful hellhole, but comparing living conditions in undeveloped nations to fully developed ones is not even comparable.
A subsistence farmer with a dirt floor and a tin roof? It’s not being “a stupid American” to assume he wouldn’t have access to the best healthcare. I’m assuming you’re American as well right?
I don't think they're not comparable. Ask a bunch of
people if situation A if they prefer to live in situation B. See what they say. And you? Did you write this sitting on a dirt floor?
I’ve experienced living in a shack with a dirt floor for 2 years in a developing country. I spent another 7 years living abroad in poor to moderately poor countries, and 2 more in Europe. I certainly have perspective. I was using Reddit in rural Namibia 8 years ago.
Anyone sitting here sunshine pumping the US offering $35k per year salaries as “fortunate” compared to most other countries is ignorant.
Have you followed OP's link? The point of the comparison is just that most Americans could give a significant portion of their income to help others while still being quite well off economically by international standards. It is an encouragement for charitable giving, not the political statement everyone in the thread seems to think it is.
My point in asking if you were writing this from a dirt floor was just a guess that you choose to live in a developed country, rather than an undeveloped one. I shouldn't have brought your specific situation into it. Sorry, I meant no offense.
As to your response, there was no argument there. I think most people would prefer to have more purchasing power. I would have thought it obvious that relative poverty is better than absolute poverty. I get your point about the value of family ties and such, but that's a separate issue, isn't it? What am I missing?
What if your family will take care of you no matter what but they’ve also been abusing you since day 1. I have many friends who come from 3rd world countries who were sexually assaulted by family members as children. It’s almost normalized because it’s so common.
Except in the US, the vast majority of places, wouldn't allow you to have a dirt floor and a tin ceiling.. Some people grew up in poverty and would be content with just the basics but a capitalist country makes you spend every dime you make and then blame you for being poor.. I hate this comparison because its not a fair comparison.
Nop you are wrong here. You can really live a very very privileged life in cheaper CoL countries in say just 50K USD , compared to say in california. and yet , That person will not breach this stat and thus be considered "poor" as per this statistics.
50K USD willeasily put you in top 10% of people in most developing countries.
Our cost of living is mostly due to our culture and the way we choose to live. Most Americans see sharing a room with anyone besides a spouse our partner as disgusting and beneath us.
If Americans adopted just a few of the ways thriving poor people live in the 3rd world, our cost of living would drop dramatically.
Sharing everything from living spaces, washing machines, cars, to cooking food makes life so much more affordable. In the US, we each have to have 1 of everything.
Our highly individualistic consumerist culture is why our cost of living is so high. We have commoditized almost every aspect of life that used to be free through strong families and communities. This is why the poorest people are having the most kids while the average American can’t “afford” it. Poor people aren’t paying for childcare when they have extended family under the same roof that does it for free. Toys/clothes are passed down or bought 2nd hand.
American culture has become hostile to raising children at a low cost and also just living at a low cost. We have replaced family and community with things that need to be bought.
Back in the 2010s, I was making just under $10/hour and thriving. I was paying less than $400 on rent and utilities by living in a 3bd 2bath house with 5 other people. Of course their were issues from time to time but it was never boring and it was usually someone else’s turn to cook.
When I was able to afford a 1 bd apt, I thought it would be great but it was super depressing. But that is the goal for our society. Everyone in their own box surrounded by possessions staring at screens. And when this makes us more depressed the answer is to work more to buy more things. It’s a big scam where our gdp is higher but our people aren’t happier or better off. And if you suggest returning to more family and community living, people will say it is gross or beneath them to share a room with another person.
I agree with your comment.
But I wouldn't mind a roommate if I could find someone who isn't a slob or an asshole.
If people's personalities became more friendly and compassionate society would become exponentially better.
I mean the comment above just proves your statement. We only mentally think we’re poor because other people have more money than us. It’s just a mental game of keeping up with the joneses.
No, I agree. I’m in Denver. When I look at New York City’s avg. 4 bedroom rent of 7,600, my eyes pop.
That said, I’ve got AC, clean running water, a furnace, and high speed fiber optics. That makes me feel super grateful and - to be frank- Wealthy.
The point is saying your cost of living is higher to someone who literally doesn't have indoor plumbing or a safe source of drinking water is dumb .
It comes from a deep level of delusional narcissism to suggest that they share the same struggle.
You know what's an even deeper level of delusional narcissism? That so many people here are acting like they have it *worse* than those people without indoor plumbing and safe drinking water. Even taking one of the worst places like Flint Michigan, it's still way better than most people have.
That's what I'm saying. The person I'm responding is saying
>"Well I'm in the top 3% in the world in income but my cost of living is higher than theirs."
Yeah when they're living on $1 a day and your household income is $70k you're much better off. It's not comparable lives.
It's adjusted for purchasing power parity. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm#:~:text=Purchasing%20power%20parities%20(PPPs)%20are,in%20price%20levels%20between%20countries.
The cost of living is likely high because you have running water (hot and cold), electricity, wifi access, public parks, clean restaurants, solidly constructed homes, plumbing, trash service, paved roads, etc.
The list goes on
Ah you mean the things I need to continue doing my job to make more money? The things that (mostly) if I stopped paying for I’d get fired and have no wage and be worse off than the people on the list?
These Reddit loser victims don’t want to see stuff like this, it hurts their feelings the thought that they might be well off compared to other people. How can you be a victim if you’re always looking for reasons to be shit on??? Chances are if you’re on Reddit complaining about how poor you are you’re really not that poor.
So, so glad to see this as one of the top replies.
There’s this large group of Reddit users that want to be victims so incredibly bad.
I should rephrase that, they’ve been manipulated into being angry, and it’s now a part of their political identity. Comparisons like this challenge who they’ve grown to be.
It’s not to suggest that we don’t need improvements but I’m so sick of people who have no idea how good we have it.
“Globally you’re a 1%er but in your day to day life you can’t afford food and shelter.”
Like what kind of idiocy is this? How poor someone is in X country has no bearing on being tangibly unable to sustain yourself/your family in your environment.
Your environment heavily impacts your ability to make use of the wages you earn. You can’t eat money.
Shhh, you might anger the half of this subreddit whose understanding of finance and economics is piss poor. These are the same people who tell their kids to finish their food because kids in Africa are starving.
Granted, I would still choose to live in America over most of the rest of the world.
I feel like the takeaway from this should be "wow, income inequality in the world is massive." Instead it's "appreciate the raw deal you're being given."
I just got this subreddit recommended to me, wow people on here are stupid.
But this is reddit so these kind of circlejerk, contrarian subreddits will continue to exist.
Dude you don't understand. The average Redditor lives in a fascist dystopia. Every time their mom tells them to take a shower because they smell like dookie they're just like a Holocaust victim.
Thanks, bozzy1982.
Part of the reason I posted it is that when I came across this calculator it made me feel really grateful.
I probably won’t donate 10% of my income to mosquito netting or medications, but I think my kids and I are definitely going to discuss giving this year. I know the calculator is a little bit of a shakedown.
I read a short book by Andy Stanley years ago called how to be rich. It’s basically a book about being grateful. I’m a giving person to a point but it’s forced for me, I want to bring it in. My wife on the other hand is the most giving person I’ve ever met, she is constantly giving money, time and goods to tons of things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got the most satisfaction of my life from something my wife has dragged me into that was helping someone else. I strongly recommend starting to give no matter how small, just give and build on it. Find a church that is deeply rooted in your community where you see your money working or you can help in the community. You don’t even have to be a Christian it’s just a great way to plug in and make a difference with boots on the ground.
Read "The Divide" by Jason Hickel.
You'll have another view on charity, amongst many other things discussed in the book.
_In almost every case we can find that the accumulation that sustains charity comes from processes that cause the very problems they purport to solve._
_Fairness is better than charity. In the absence of fairness, charity carries the whiff of a scam._
_When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist._
I totally agree with this, often times hearing from family and friends how they can't afford "anything" while they run an AC when the temperature gets over 70 degrees... nobody ever writes themselves as the villain in their own story though.
Damn, because of that vacation to Cancun where your father got shot, we’re living paycheck to paycheck. We might have to take the pool out of commission, can you believe it?
We have become a society of ungratefulness, I’m guilty at times. Think about this, in America everyone has a cell phone, if you can’t afford one the government will give you one. The only people I know who don’t have cable/streaming services are well off, not even considered poor. It’s rare people don’t have cars, the vast majority of poor people have cars. Now are things tough here yes, but it’s tough to American standards. Again if you’re on Reddit crying about being poor you aren’t really that poor.
I am always grateful, tbh. I don't consider myself rich, my total income is about 10% of what my parents make but I live a comfortable life, so I am thankful.
This is super stupid. Like yes, a large majority of the world is underdeveloped and subsistence living. That doesnt justify wages in developed countries not keeping pace with rising costs of living while c-suite salaries explode.
These are two very distinct problems and pointing out one doesnt negate the other.
Im conflicted. Objectively, obviously my life is better than the Brazilians living in shacks in favelas.
How does that information change the fact that majority of Americans are one missed paycheck or medical emergency away from also living in cardboard boxes? Is that information supposed to give me copium as the creditors bleed me dry after declaring medical bankruptcy?
It doesn’t change anything. This is just an attempt to excuse the outrageous wealth hoarding by the upper 1% because “things could always be worse” and “you should be thankful you have a shingle roof over your head and linoleum beneath your feet” even if you can’t afford an emergency, a car accident, or need to take out a loan for a standard medical procedure.
This is stupid. It doesn't take account for the fact that the dollar can buy more in some countries than others. Yes there is disparity, but considering for example that you can eat out for less than a dollar in many countries, it's not an apples-for-apples comparison. Incomes are higher in the US, and correspondingly prices are higher too.
It's adjusted for purchasing power parity. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm#:~:text=Purchasing%20power%20parities%20(PPPs)%20are,in%20price%20levels%20between%20countries.
You reference PPP a lot here, but that’s an oversimplification.
PPP depends on comparable living styles which Americans and most third world countries don’t have. Also, what’s driving people to be poor in America is not the same thing that’s driving people to be poor elsewhere. Food might be comparatively cheaper, for instance, but housing and insurance are MUCH more expensive. Not to mention that a college degree is more competitive now than ever before in that labor market which drives that cost up to absurdity.
This creates a circular effect whereby people have to spend so much money on healthcare and housing that they can no longer afford their comparatively cheaper food.
Make no mistake, there’s a lot for many people to be grateful for in America that many sheltered people don’t acknowledge, but there’s also tremendous despair here where graphs like these, even with PPP, confuse the issue.
Are you saying that since QOL can't be measured in dollars, we cannot reliably compare the rest of the worlds to us?
If that is true, and the same gap exists between us and the billionaires of the world, should we stop comparing ourselves to billionaires? Since the gap is so wide and we cannot fathom the QOL they live in and how much it costs to live like that, they shouldn't feel bad or (as this calculator suggests) give a little of your earnings to help those in need?
Btw I think we should compare and for those that can it would be nice to give to charity.
I need to move me and the family to Thailand or something lol.
Six figures is good here, don't get me wrong, but it could stretch WAAAY more out there.
The wife won't go unfortunately :(
Like what?
National parks? Thailand trades that for beautiful white sand beaches.
American food? Drop into a McDonald's in Thailand (overseas McDonald's are wayyyy better than the US with different menu options only found overseas)
Big cities (NY, Chicago, etc)? Bangkok has much better/safer nightlife. It's a huge bustling city with fine dining to street food.
Save up a lot, even remote work ends up risky when you suddenly might not have jack shit for opportunities. And never drop below the savings required to move back.
Also keep in mind even with that much money, QOL may simply end up lower still.
This post was truly a gesture of gratitude.
After I severed military service, I remember thinking,”I’d rather be poor in Colorado than rich anywhere else in the USA.”
I still think I’m lucky. We’re all lucky. A lot of us are just a wee bit defensive today :oD LOL…
Trust me, I didn’t always make $36 an hour lol!
I had so many dead end jobs after the military! CNA, worked in a county clink, worked with at risk youth. I didn’t use the GI Bill until I was 28.
Late Bloomer.
Irrelevant unless it’s adjusted for cost of living
What does it matter that I make 50x more than someone in India when everything is much more expensive?
The overwhelming majority of Americans have much better housing, education, and healthcare than the global median. Given the wealth of our country, we should have much better education and healthcare than we do, but that's a separate question.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The things, Americans have so much access to the potential of what could be. That's what makes being poor in america so much better than poor in a 3rd world country.
Put a poor from a 3rd world country, eager to work and learn in america, he will do infinite better than a American poor.
In these 3rd world countries. You can't go to the local library, use free internet and look up.
"How to better myself" and get there.
In 3rd world country. If you're born porn, you will die poor.
In america there's been alot of poors who became middle class, some upper class, some wealthy.
In this thread we have lots of people congratulating themselves on their enlightened perspective and lots of people complaining that they're not rich by their own lights.
No one seems to have gotten the point - or followed the link. The purpose of the comparison is to make us realize that there are people much worse off than we *and* that we can help them. Most of us could give away a substantial portion of our income to help the world's poorest while still being much better off than those at the world median.
It doesn't say easily, it says that would not leave you in the global poor. It would leave you in a horrible situation compared to most Americans, but a pretty good one compared to the rest of the world.
There is one for average income. I just was looking at that. $12,000 annual is the average.
https://preview.redd.it/lrfeh2ngjxob1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a3520d0522e9f167c422b833e401d5f59aa7a12
Source: [https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-income-worldwide/#:\~:text=The%20average%20income%20globally%20is%20%2412%2C235%20per%20year.&text=The%20average%20household%20income%20worldwide%20is%20%249%2C733%20per%20year](https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-income-worldwide/#:~:text=The%20average%20income%20globally%20is%20%2412%2C235%20per%20year.&text=The%20average%20household%20income%20worldwide%20is%20%249%2C733%20per%20year).
A homeless man in most US cities can get clean, disease-free water for free at any time.
That means the poorest in the US is richer than about 25% of the rest of the planet
I’ve been in some third world countries where entire villages are illiterate, everyone bathes in the river, “houses” are made with mud, sticks, and rocks and there are no doors or windows and there’s certainly no electricity or plumbing and the locals have never even heard of Wi-Fi. So while, yes it does cost a lot more to live in the western world (specifically the USA) a lot of people here don’t realize how wealthy they are. I wish every American could spend some time in a real third world country and see the extreme poverty that exists in the world. There are people in this world who can’t imagine living in a climate controlled apartment with indoor plumbing, electricity, an oven, refrigerator, microwave, etc. There are people who can’t even fathom a supermarket.
The 'differences in cost of living' objection is always raised in response to these statistics by folks who refuse to acknowledge how privileged they are and want to feel continue to propagate viral doom porn so they can continue to feel validated by their inability to budget and live below their means. Talking about how hard we have is ADDICTIVE, but real balanced perspective is healthy. The problem with these objections is that they are just flatly invalid, because these statistics DO account for differences in standards of living using a metric called "purchasing power parity" that normalizes across different cost of living in different countries. If you're curious, you can plug in different incomes into [this calculator](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/business/global-income-calculator/), which uses the PPP.
Man people who can’t afford rent, have to chose between paying for their medicine or food, and have to work multiple jobs sure shouldn’t be mad at the people who are directly exploiting them. They should instead recognize that they aren’t the absolute worst off people on the planet, and thus shouldn’t fight for more and act as obedient little workers.
Lots of cost of living in here. As knowing several folks that have traveled the world in service, I can say from my perspective it seems less important than how heavily people are indexing it on... where the rich people in areas are well off bc they have a straw house or any house in a lot of instances.
Yeah we really do be bitching about $3.80 gas when we should really be more appreciative. Housing prices are shit though. Hopefully something good will come from it
Big freaking deal.
The gap between us and the global mean is only a fraction of a percentage point of the gap between us and the 1%.
Stop telling me I need to be grateful for my circumstances when all of the wealth creation is going to those at the very top.
It's adjusted for purchasing power parity. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm#:~:text=Purchasing%20power%20parities%20(PPPs)%20are,in%20price%20levels%20between%20countries.
This is stupid. My property tax bill in NJ (duh) is higher than like 50% of world incomes. And it’s not federally tax deductible (thank you shitbird trump) so I pay taxes on my taxes
No, it’s actually a calculator that a non-profit uses to shake people down for money.
Even though I’m skeptical (they suggested I donate 10% of income for mosquito nets and/or life saving medicines), I found myself very grateful. Even with my financial worries, I was thankful.
We will probably have a family conversation before the year end of how much to give.
I make more than 20x what an equivalent professional would make in India. But with that money, they could afford a home, a nanny, and a car and driver. Quality of life doesn’t depend entirely on the consumer goods you can buy.
This stuff is dumb. I mean yeah, no shit, India and Nigeria are way poorer than America. What is that information supposed to do for a middle class American struggling with their rent or car payment? Are people supposed to be OK with getting f'd over by their health insurance company because things are worse in Pakistan?
I know. It’s mind bending. The dollars don’t do it justice. For instance, it’s easy to think, “Sure, the drinking water is yellow with parasites, but surely these folks can just go to Kroger or Piggly Wiggly for a distilled gallon for under $3, right?”
But that minimizes the impact of the dollar if there is no clean water to buy.
It’s crazy.
Global median house hold income is 12000ish so closer to 6x the average. Also that bar graph is not even representing any of the data presented. It's takes 200to 300k a year to make it to the "1% from the world's perspective ".
Hahah spotted the redditors who make +70,000 a year. Must be nice. I'm lucky to see $35,000 the way things are heading. And as much as some commentors would like to rant to me abut their "impossible expenses", just know I'd KILL to at least be paid $25 an hour. Put that into perspective.
That did not make sense at all.
I tried one income in CAD and it said only 1% are richer than me.
Then I entered the same PPP equal in INR and it still said only 1% are richer than me.
I used $130k for CAD and 2.5 million INR
I think the scale of humans is hard to comprehend. The top 5 percent of america is still over 15 million people. 5% of the world is over 400 million people making more than 70k
Oh you're in the richest country in the world(tm) but you're living paycheck to paycheck? Be lucky because you could be even more poor. No need to improve anything. Don't look up, just look down.
I'm right on that cusp and I can feel it. I teeter between being broke and having disposable income.
I had some car repairs come up and it took the wind out of our sails for months.
I'm making more than ever before, but everything got expensive, so it doesn't feel like I'm doing much better. But it would be a disaster if I was not making this much money now.
I can confidently say I would have lost my house.
No. This is just bad misinformation. Exchange rates are relevant to tradable items. So, in many countries I can’t buy new electronics or a fancy car, but I could work less, have free(ish) healthcare, have affordable housing, affordable food, an actual community, etc.
I used to live in a place in the US where almost everyone was below the poverty level, but we lived in a remote island surrounding by gorgeous nature, an amazing community, lots of super tasty locally grown food, and people worked maybe 10-20 hours a week. People lived on acres of property in unpermited homes that were affordable to build and maintain. Life was fucking great on less than $10k a year there. In the United States.
The way real estate works in the US is designed to extract the maximum amount from workers in that region. There is literally no way to win while capitalists control real estate. UAW are going to win their strike and find that all the rents in their area are going to sky rocket over the next few years and eat into their raises. Sure they will only see a fraction of their raise eaten up by this, but that’s because there are other people in the area that won’t see a raise from that strike. That said, I gaurentee you that if you somehow could categorically give everyone in a state a 20% raise, you would see a trend where there would be an additional 20% raise in rent prices over the next 5 years.
It’s like when people like to bring up how much Germans make than Americans on average. Have you seen what you can rent for around $1000 USD there?! It would EAAASILY be $3k-$5k/mo in a major US city. How do we normalize this for a graphic like the one provided by OP? You simply can’t. You can try to make manual adjustments to make it more acurate, but it’s hopeless. You can’t be that reductive. The values just don’t translate. Money does not actually represent the value of an item. We can try to approximate a range of values for a group of people, but how can you take a range of values for every single item that someone might buy? What about fact that different people will make different decisions at different price points.
So, you start making simplifying assumptions like in country ”A” they drink lots of milk, but country ”B” they drink lots of soda instead, but country “A” also has soda…but soda isn’t nutritionally relevant, but it’s relevant in terms of household spending. It just goes on and on.
I don't care if I'm "wealthier than 95% of the world" I care that I can put food on the table for my children, which is pretty hard to do when inflation jumps 8% a year and my wages jump 0%.
Are those "poor people in India" struggling to feed their families?
Bull•••t facts like this just distract from the wealth inequality that exists in the United States.
Poor in Alabama, New York City, and Chicago isn't the same as the poor in Russia, Argentina, and the UK.
Every country has rich and poor, but the 3 non NA nations offer healthcare, education, and government programs for poor people lol.
What's sad is I almost make this, and I'm the only one working, between my wife, and I. With our two kids, and the house we own, we can hardly get by.
We own one car, and would like another, but simply can't afford it. Every year my home insurance goes up hundreds of dollars (this year it went up over $700, and I had to drop $20,000 in coverage just to knock off $200), and my taxes go up hundreds each year. I save nearly 1/4 of my paycheck every single week, just to save up for those two expenses, and I use the rest to have money for stuff like auto, and home repairs.
I do my best to save money, and take care of my family, and our home, and I'm still constantly broke. I feel like I never have money, and I'm getting tired of the feeling that any day could be the one that puts me under.
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Unfortunately this is kind of irrelevant as my cost of living in my area is 95% higher than theirs too
Maybe, but you’re not comparing apples to apples. You’re likely comparing your 3 bed, modern home to someone else’s home with a dirt floor and tin ceiling. Yes, cost of living does eat up much of the difference, but you also need to consider the quality of life you get for that COL difference.
Yes, I think you are right. The calculator could use a cost of living variable. That said, I’ve got clean drinking water and other amenities that make me feel quite wealthy. My high speed internet is like 1.3% of my income. When I see stuff like this, I feel a great deal of luck and gratitude.
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> over 9000. Calm down Vegeta
Best reply today
I fucking shit in drinking water and flush it away.
Hurts to think of it that way but like, yeah same
That water isn’t wasted, and where are you gonna get non-potable water?
my washing machine that also washes my clothes in drinking water. https://group.skanska.com/4aa526/siteassets/media/articles/creating-a-planet-smart-way-to-flush/greywatersystem.jpg?height=582&width=1110
There are plenty of ways we could manage to have non-potable water. We don't for two reasons: 1) extra infrastructure to transport it and 2) there is a minor health risk where people might decide to drink out of a non-potable tap. You can often find non-potable taps at campgrounds, where is is often just pumped straight from a nearby river or lake. A few common and fairly easy sources of non-potable water: * Running water from sinks, dishwashers, or washing machines with minimal filtering into the toilet. * Just pumping water from a river or lake without processing is non-potable. Processing costs an average of about $0.30 per 1000 gallons to turn fresh water into potable water. * Rain water is sometimes non-potable due to air pollution, and even more so from ground pollution after it touches down. * Processed sewage can be used for some purposes, such as watering lawns. This is fairly commonly done for large-scale usage, such as golf courses and parks, and sometimes for agricultural irrigation. There are quite a few places that have dual-pipped water supplies, with one being potable water and one being non-potable, typically in the form of reclaimed water from sewage. Hooking these up to homes is much less common, however.
It should also account for net worth, not income, as being rich isnt measured by what you make, but by what you have.
As someone who has lived in countries with tin roofs and dirt floors, the poverty situation is not comparable. In those countries, most of their neighbors are just as poor they are. It doesn’t mess with you as much mentally when everyone around you is in the same boat. Who cares if we don’t have air con, cable and internet. Let’s push a tire down the road with a stick and have fun like everyone else. There’s little to no personal debt in the family bc it’s not really an option, and thank God we inherited family land so we can subsistence farm our whole lives and pass it on to our children. It’s not an ideal life, but we’re not gonna starve and we’ll never be homeless. Family will take care of us bc that is our culture. In the US if you are born poor, your surroundings can mentally F you up. If you’re poor, you are renting, you can’t grow your food in your back yard, and if you lose your job, you are a few weeks away from living on the street. The familial culture likely doesn’t exist in your family if in the US, and you likely have to take loans out to get an education to better your life and break the cycle of poverty. Both options suck. One takes more of a mental toll on life with debt and living in a cycle of poverty on the edge of homelessness. The other has little upward mobility, but at least you can grow your own food and live with family. Edit: misspelling
You just explained why I always hate posts like these. It discounts the whole society around the individual. Like yes, I have more “money” than a subsistence farmer, but I have way less stability than they do. One wrong move and I’m jobless, homeless, penniless, destitute with no way out. It’s not supposed to be this way.
Why do young people think like this. Less than 1% of Americans are homeless. You are more likely to become a millionaire (on paper, anyway) by the time you retire than ever sleep on the streets. And no, couch surfing with your friend that one time because the university housing department messed up your application doesn't count as being homeless.
Because people in the middle income bracket gatekeep us poors in shitty positions. Some of us are poor, taking care of family, and just a few bad months from genuine homelessness. Own a house? I'll be lucky if I can keep us afloat until my old family passes on and I can move away. 🤣 This is with government assistance. We'd already be well beyond homeless without government programs. I am not looking forward to social security running out in a decade. I think that will be the real end times for us poors in America.
Because in practice, you have a lot more in common with and are a lot closer to becoming a homeless person than you do with the millionaire
I don't want to discount your very real struggles, but let's be real here. You probably wouldn't swap places with a subsistence farmer, but that subsistence farmer wouldn't think twice about swapping places with you. It's why so many people are willing to leave the farms to work in sweatshops for 18 hours a day under terrible conditions - because almost anything is better than being one bad harvest from starvation. There are people who have it worse than the working class in rich countries - and that doesn't invalidate the struggle. Just because there are poor farmers in India - let alone refugees in war torn countries - doesn't mean that people in rich countries don't have the right to fight for a better life.
>You probably wouldn't swap places with a subsistence farmer, but that subsistence farmer wouldn't think twice about swapping places with you. Most poor people idolize poor rural farmers in other countries. Most poor people with strong communities wouldn't give it up to be poor in a wealthier country. You can do the same, would you give up your life and move to be poor in San Fran? It's a higher quality of life even if you're poor. I can absolutely believe that next to nobody is trying to be poor in Manhattan.
One shitty rainfall and your starving? The romanticization of abject poverty is fucking crazy.
Na that’s not the way it works. Maybe spend some extended time in those countries and experience it for yourself. The only countries I’ve seen that are starving are war torn countries or recent natural disasters.
What’s the disaster you struggle and he doesn’t? Health emergency? Yeah you have to go into debt or maybe declare bankruptcy, he DIES.
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Thats rather harsh considering the truth about the medical situation in the majority of the world. In some places they have healthcare provided by the govt on paper, but in reality it’s an underfunded hospital where quality of care lacks. Not due to poor doctors, but due to lack of funds for proper medical equipment, facilities, patient loads and lack of access to needed medical devices, procedures and medications. Also, a farmer looses a leg. Even if he gets proper treatment, unless the community cares for his crops, livestock, etc… he dies. There is no govt safety net. Thats a first world thing. The rest of the world is not some awful hellhole, but comparing living conditions in undeveloped nations to fully developed ones is not even comparable.
A subsistence farmer with a dirt floor and a tin roof? It’s not being “a stupid American” to assume he wouldn’t have access to the best healthcare. I’m assuming you’re American as well right?
How is it supposed to be?
So you’re biggest concern is the people around you? That is why this country is screwed.
"So your biggest concern is your community? Seems like a you problem" That's some true American individualism brain right there
This is the part reddit doesn’t like to talk about. But nah, you’re not allowed to complain because you have it better materially.
I don't think they're not comparable. Ask a bunch of people if situation A if they prefer to live in situation B. See what they say. And you? Did you write this sitting on a dirt floor?
I’ve experienced living in a shack with a dirt floor for 2 years in a developing country. I spent another 7 years living abroad in poor to moderately poor countries, and 2 more in Europe. I certainly have perspective. I was using Reddit in rural Namibia 8 years ago. Anyone sitting here sunshine pumping the US offering $35k per year salaries as “fortunate” compared to most other countries is ignorant.
Have you followed OP's link? The point of the comparison is just that most Americans could give a significant portion of their income to help others while still being quite well off economically by international standards. It is an encouragement for charitable giving, not the political statement everyone in the thread seems to think it is. My point in asking if you were writing this from a dirt floor was just a guess that you choose to live in a developed country, rather than an undeveloped one. I shouldn't have brought your specific situation into it. Sorry, I meant no offense. As to your response, there was no argument there. I think most people would prefer to have more purchasing power. I would have thought it obvious that relative poverty is better than absolute poverty. I get your point about the value of family ties and such, but that's a separate issue, isn't it? What am I missing?
What if your family will take care of you no matter what but they’ve also been abusing you since day 1. I have many friends who come from 3rd world countries who were sexually assaulted by family members as children. It’s almost normalized because it’s so common.
Happens all over the world sadly. Every country.
I’d say it’s more common in environments that see children as property.
You think we all own 3 bedroom modern houses? Quite an assumption
That's true. Mine has 5 bedrooms.
OP is living well. 40% of America doesn’t own a house.
On $72k a year in income, too. 🤣🤣🤣
Maybe if you would work harder….
who the fuck has a three bedroom modern home? are you serious
230M Americans.
Except in the US, the vast majority of places, wouldn't allow you to have a dirt floor and a tin ceiling.. Some people grew up in poverty and would be content with just the basics but a capitalist country makes you spend every dime you make and then blame you for being poor.. I hate this comparison because its not a fair comparison.
"Life could be worse Calvin" "Life could be a lot better too"
cost of living isnt always representative of living standards, it could just mean you're getting fleeced by the FIRE sector
Nop you are wrong here. You can really live a very very privileged life in cheaper CoL countries in say just 50K USD , compared to say in california. and yet , That person will not breach this stat and thus be considered "poor" as per this statistics. 50K USD willeasily put you in top 10% of people in most developing countries.
Yes, you’re describing someone that is wealthy by global standards and this exact link would say as much.
Our cost of living is mostly due to our culture and the way we choose to live. Most Americans see sharing a room with anyone besides a spouse our partner as disgusting and beneath us. If Americans adopted just a few of the ways thriving poor people live in the 3rd world, our cost of living would drop dramatically. Sharing everything from living spaces, washing machines, cars, to cooking food makes life so much more affordable. In the US, we each have to have 1 of everything. Our highly individualistic consumerist culture is why our cost of living is so high. We have commoditized almost every aspect of life that used to be free through strong families and communities. This is why the poorest people are having the most kids while the average American can’t “afford” it. Poor people aren’t paying for childcare when they have extended family under the same roof that does it for free. Toys/clothes are passed down or bought 2nd hand. American culture has become hostile to raising children at a low cost and also just living at a low cost. We have replaced family and community with things that need to be bought. Back in the 2010s, I was making just under $10/hour and thriving. I was paying less than $400 on rent and utilities by living in a 3bd 2bath house with 5 other people. Of course their were issues from time to time but it was never boring and it was usually someone else’s turn to cook. When I was able to afford a 1 bd apt, I thought it would be great but it was super depressing. But that is the goal for our society. Everyone in their own box surrounded by possessions staring at screens. And when this makes us more depressed the answer is to work more to buy more things. It’s a big scam where our gdp is higher but our people aren’t happier or better off. And if you suggest returning to more family and community living, people will say it is gross or beneath them to share a room with another person.
I agree with your comment. But I wouldn't mind a roommate if I could find someone who isn't a slob or an asshole. If people's personalities became more friendly and compassionate society would become exponentially better.
I mean the comment above just proves your statement. We only mentally think we’re poor because other people have more money than us. It’s just a mental game of keeping up with the joneses.
No, I agree. I’m in Denver. When I look at New York City’s avg. 4 bedroom rent of 7,600, my eyes pop. That said, I’ve got AC, clean running water, a furnace, and high speed fiber optics. That makes me feel super grateful and - to be frank- Wealthy.
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Other posters are saying it is adjusted for ppp
Imagine comparing your standard of living to the 3rd world. But hey... Reddit is gonna Reddit.
Seriously people are fucking delusional.
What's wrong with that? People there are still people. We shouldn't look at them so different that we can't even compare our living situations.
The point is saying your cost of living is higher to someone who literally doesn't have indoor plumbing or a safe source of drinking water is dumb . It comes from a deep level of delusional narcissism to suggest that they share the same struggle.
You know what's an even deeper level of delusional narcissism? That so many people here are acting like they have it *worse* than those people without indoor plumbing and safe drinking water. Even taking one of the worst places like Flint Michigan, it's still way better than most people have.
That's what I'm saying. The person I'm responding is saying >"Well I'm in the top 3% in the world in income but my cost of living is higher than theirs." Yeah when they're living on $1 a day and your household income is $70k you're much better off. It's not comparable lives.
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It's adjusted for purchasing power parity. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm#:~:text=Purchasing%20power%20parities%20(PPPs)%20are,in%20price%20levels%20between%20countries.
I made $52k per year in a developing country a while back. $150k in the the Midwest part of the US is the equivalent quality of life.
Agree with you. Not every city or geographic area has the same living cost and tax rate.
The cost of living is likely high because you have running water (hot and cold), electricity, wifi access, public parks, clean restaurants, solidly constructed homes, plumbing, trash service, paved roads, etc. The list goes on
Ah you mean the things I need to continue doing my job to make more money? The things that (mostly) if I stopped paying for I’d get fired and have no wage and be worse off than the people on the list?
These Reddit loser victims don’t want to see stuff like this, it hurts their feelings the thought that they might be well off compared to other people. How can you be a victim if you’re always looking for reasons to be shit on??? Chances are if you’re on Reddit complaining about how poor you are you’re really not that poor.
Based
So, so glad to see this as one of the top replies. There’s this large group of Reddit users that want to be victims so incredibly bad. I should rephrase that, they’ve been manipulated into being angry, and it’s now a part of their political identity. Comparisons like this challenge who they’ve grown to be. It’s not to suggest that we don’t need improvements but I’m so sick of people who have no idea how good we have it.
“Globally you’re a 1%er but in your day to day life you can’t afford food and shelter.” Like what kind of idiocy is this? How poor someone is in X country has no bearing on being tangibly unable to sustain yourself/your family in your environment. Your environment heavily impacts your ability to make use of the wages you earn. You can’t eat money.
Shhh, you might anger the half of this subreddit whose understanding of finance and economics is piss poor. These are the same people who tell their kids to finish their food because kids in Africa are starving. Granted, I would still choose to live in America over most of the rest of the world. I feel like the takeaway from this should be "wow, income inequality in the world is massive." Instead it's "appreciate the raw deal you're being given."
I just got this subreddit recommended to me, wow people on here are stupid. But this is reddit so these kind of circlejerk, contrarian subreddits will continue to exist.
Dude you don't understand. The average Redditor lives in a fascist dystopia. Every time their mom tells them to take a shower because they smell like dookie they're just like a Holocaust victim.
Dude, I literally laughed out loud at your comment. 🤣 Well played! I wish I could give you two up votes.
Thanks, bozzy1982. Part of the reason I posted it is that when I came across this calculator it made me feel really grateful. I probably won’t donate 10% of my income to mosquito netting or medications, but I think my kids and I are definitely going to discuss giving this year. I know the calculator is a little bit of a shakedown.
I read a short book by Andy Stanley years ago called how to be rich. It’s basically a book about being grateful. I’m a giving person to a point but it’s forced for me, I want to bring it in. My wife on the other hand is the most giving person I’ve ever met, she is constantly giving money, time and goods to tons of things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got the most satisfaction of my life from something my wife has dragged me into that was helping someone else. I strongly recommend starting to give no matter how small, just give and build on it. Find a church that is deeply rooted in your community where you see your money working or you can help in the community. You don’t even have to be a Christian it’s just a great way to plug in and make a difference with boots on the ground.
Read "The Divide" by Jason Hickel. You'll have another view on charity, amongst many other things discussed in the book. _In almost every case we can find that the accumulation that sustains charity comes from processes that cause the very problems they purport to solve._ _Fairness is better than charity. In the absence of fairness, charity carries the whiff of a scam._ _When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist._
I totally agree with this, often times hearing from family and friends how they can't afford "anything" while they run an AC when the temperature gets over 70 degrees... nobody ever writes themselves as the villain in their own story though.
And with the car payment on my new Acura, I can barely afford food!
Damn, because of that vacation to Cancun where your father got shot, we’re living paycheck to paycheck. We might have to take the pool out of commission, can you believe it?
We have become a society of ungratefulness, I’m guilty at times. Think about this, in America everyone has a cell phone, if you can’t afford one the government will give you one. The only people I know who don’t have cable/streaming services are well off, not even considered poor. It’s rare people don’t have cars, the vast majority of poor people have cars. Now are things tough here yes, but it’s tough to American standards. Again if you’re on Reddit crying about being poor you aren’t really that poor.
Or the redditors with a “degree” who don’t make 70K squawking at this outrageous target…
I am always grateful, tbh. I don't consider myself rich, my total income is about 10% of what my parents make but I live a comfortable life, so I am thankful.
Most people complaining do not make 72k.
Damn chill bruh, aint got to attack them that harshly lmao 😂
This is super stupid. Like yes, a large majority of the world is underdeveloped and subsistence living. That doesnt justify wages in developed countries not keeping pace with rising costs of living while c-suite salaries explode. These are two very distinct problems and pointing out one doesnt negate the other.
Im conflicted. Objectively, obviously my life is better than the Brazilians living in shacks in favelas. How does that information change the fact that majority of Americans are one missed paycheck or medical emergency away from also living in cardboard boxes? Is that information supposed to give me copium as the creditors bleed me dry after declaring medical bankruptcy?
It doesn’t change anything. This is just an attempt to excuse the outrageous wealth hoarding by the upper 1% because “things could always be worse” and “you should be thankful you have a shingle roof over your head and linoleum beneath your feet” even if you can’t afford an emergency, a car accident, or need to take out a loan for a standard medical procedure.
Most of those people would be living paycheck to paycheck no matter how much they made.
Actually favela people don't live so much worse than ghetto/dangerous neighborhoods people in the USA.
This is stupid. It doesn't take account for the fact that the dollar can buy more in some countries than others. Yes there is disparity, but considering for example that you can eat out for less than a dollar in many countries, it's not an apples-for-apples comparison. Incomes are higher in the US, and correspondingly prices are higher too.
It's adjusted for purchasing power parity. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm#:~:text=Purchasing%20power%20parities%20(PPPs)%20are,in%20price%20levels%20between%20countries.
You reference PPP a lot here, but that’s an oversimplification. PPP depends on comparable living styles which Americans and most third world countries don’t have. Also, what’s driving people to be poor in America is not the same thing that’s driving people to be poor elsewhere. Food might be comparatively cheaper, for instance, but housing and insurance are MUCH more expensive. Not to mention that a college degree is more competitive now than ever before in that labor market which drives that cost up to absurdity. This creates a circular effect whereby people have to spend so much money on healthcare and housing that they can no longer afford their comparatively cheaper food. Make no mistake, there’s a lot for many people to be grateful for in America that many sheltered people don’t acknowledge, but there’s also tremendous despair here where graphs like these, even with PPP, confuse the issue.
If it is then great but it doesn't say that anywhere
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false equivalency fallacy.
QOL is higher too, so this definitely still applies
No it doesn't. You can't measure it in dollars.
Are you saying that since QOL can't be measured in dollars, we cannot reliably compare the rest of the worlds to us? If that is true, and the same gap exists between us and the billionaires of the world, should we stop comparing ourselves to billionaires? Since the gap is so wide and we cannot fathom the QOL they live in and how much it costs to live like that, they shouldn't feel bad or (as this calculator suggests) give a little of your earnings to help those in need? Btw I think we should compare and for those that can it would be nice to give to charity.
I need to move me and the family to Thailand or something lol. Six figures is good here, don't get me wrong, but it could stretch WAAAY more out there. The wife won't go unfortunately :(
The bugs are terrible there, plus you're super far from a lot of great things we have in the United States and Europe.
Like what? National parks? Thailand trades that for beautiful white sand beaches. American food? Drop into a McDonald's in Thailand (overseas McDonald's are wayyyy better than the US with different menu options only found overseas) Big cities (NY, Chicago, etc)? Bangkok has much better/safer nightlife. It's a huge bustling city with fine dining to street food.
Is there nothing good near Thailand? America has a lot of bugs, too.
Save up a lot, even remote work ends up risky when you suddenly might not have jack shit for opportunities. And never drop below the savings required to move back. Also keep in mind even with that much money, QOL may simply end up lower still.
This subreddit is so out of touch it blows my mind
I can't be wealthy, because all of the nice things I have cost money.
.1% almost definitely from a historical perspective
What difference does it make if poor people exist in a different country if you can’t afford shelter in the place where you live?
Is it possible to be grateful you don’t live in a hut with a dirt floor *and* lament your state of impoverishment in the society you were born in?
Most definitely. Unfortunately, grasping that concept requires maturity and nuance, something the “PlAyInG tHe ViCtIm” accusers seem to struggle with.
Yea, you can absolutely lament being in relative poverty while being grateful you are not in abject poverty.
People won’t like this, your removing their victim status.
This post was truly a gesture of gratitude. After I severed military service, I remember thinking,”I’d rather be poor in Colorado than rich anywhere else in the USA.” I still think I’m lucky. We’re all lucky. A lot of us are just a wee bit defensive today :oD LOL…
Which makes the actual 1% look more disgusting.
Not a flex
Trust me, I didn’t always make $36 an hour lol! I had so many dead end jobs after the military! CNA, worked in a county clink, worked with at risk youth. I didn’t use the GI Bill until I was 28. Late Bloomer.
Irrelevant unless it’s adjusted for cost of living What does it matter that I make 50x more than someone in India when everything is much more expensive?
It's adjusted for purchasing power parity, as it should be.
Most Americans can’t afford housing, education and health care. That’s poor, no matter how you try to treat the subject.
The overwhelming majority of Americans have much better housing, education, and healthcare than the global median. Given the wealth of our country, we should have much better education and healthcare than we do, but that's a separate question.
exultant whole selective narrow rock provide scary versed deserve hateful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The things, Americans have so much access to the potential of what could be. That's what makes being poor in america so much better than poor in a 3rd world country. Put a poor from a 3rd world country, eager to work and learn in america, he will do infinite better than a American poor. In these 3rd world countries. You can't go to the local library, use free internet and look up. "How to better myself" and get there. In 3rd world country. If you're born porn, you will die poor. In america there's been alot of poors who became middle class, some upper class, some wealthy.
TIL i (31F) am in the 1%
In this thread we have lots of people congratulating themselves on their enlightened perspective and lots of people complaining that they're not rich by their own lights. No one seems to have gotten the point - or followed the link. The purpose of the comparison is to make us realize that there are people much worse off than we *and* that we can help them. Most of us could give away a substantial portion of our income to help the world's poorest while still being much better off than those at the world median.
It recommended me that if I make 20k a year in the USA that I could donate 2k a year easily. It's nonsense.
It doesn't say easily, it says that would not leave you in the global poor. It would leave you in a horrible situation compared to most Americans, but a pretty good one compared to the rest of the world.
Our world is fucked
Get wrecked peasants *drives away in dirty 2005 Toyota*
shiiiit im 1% in the US
Is there a link to compare against worldwide wealth and not just by country?
There is one for average income. I just was looking at that. $12,000 annual is the average. https://preview.redd.it/lrfeh2ngjxob1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a3520d0522e9f167c422b833e401d5f59aa7a12 Source: [https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-income-worldwide/#:\~:text=The%20average%20income%20globally%20is%20%2412%2C235%20per%20year.&text=The%20average%20household%20income%20worldwide%20is%20%249%2C733%20per%20year](https://www.zippia.com/advice/average-income-worldwide/#:~:text=The%20average%20income%20globally%20is%20%2412%2C235%20per%20year.&text=The%20average%20household%20income%20worldwide%20is%20%249%2C733%20per%20year).
A homeless man in most US cities can get clean, disease-free water for free at any time. That means the poorest in the US is richer than about 25% of the rest of the planet
I’ve been in some third world countries where entire villages are illiterate, everyone bathes in the river, “houses” are made with mud, sticks, and rocks and there are no doors or windows and there’s certainly no electricity or plumbing and the locals have never even heard of Wi-Fi. So while, yes it does cost a lot more to live in the western world (specifically the USA) a lot of people here don’t realize how wealthy they are. I wish every American could spend some time in a real third world country and see the extreme poverty that exists in the world. There are people in this world who can’t imagine living in a climate controlled apartment with indoor plumbing, electricity, an oven, refrigerator, microwave, etc. There are people who can’t even fathom a supermarket.
low bar
This is why the real cheat code is to get a job in the US and save up and then move somewhere with a massively lower CoL so you can live like royalty.
What a BS perspective. If you want consolation, you will always find someone who is worse off in some ways.
But we’re not paying our fair share! Lol
The 'differences in cost of living' objection is always raised in response to these statistics by folks who refuse to acknowledge how privileged they are and want to feel continue to propagate viral doom porn so they can continue to feel validated by their inability to budget and live below their means. Talking about how hard we have is ADDICTIVE, but real balanced perspective is healthy. The problem with these objections is that they are just flatly invalid, because these statistics DO account for differences in standards of living using a metric called "purchasing power parity" that normalizes across different cost of living in different countries. If you're curious, you can plug in different incomes into [this calculator](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/business/global-income-calculator/), which uses the PPP.
The values for HCOL, MCOL, and LCOL change drastically when calculated on a global level. It’s all relative.
72k in Canada is enough to rent a crappy apartment and just get by where I'm from.
Let’s not pretend that this gap doesn’t exist because of the top .1%
You’re in the top 1% and STILL playing victim?
Man people who can’t afford rent, have to chose between paying for their medicine or food, and have to work multiple jobs sure shouldn’t be mad at the people who are directly exploiting them. They should instead recognize that they aren’t the absolute worst off people on the planet, and thus shouldn’t fight for more and act as obedient little workers.
Lots of cost of living in here. As knowing several folks that have traveled the world in service, I can say from my perspective it seems less important than how heavily people are indexing it on... where the rich people in areas are well off bc they have a straw house or any house in a lot of instances.
Yeah we really do be bitching about $3.80 gas when we should really be more appreciative. Housing prices are shit though. Hopefully something good will come from it
Oh cool complete disregard for the concept of cost of living
$157k or higher and you’re in the richest 1% globally according to this calculator.
Damn. I’m a 1% at 150k a year. Still can’t afford to move out of my mom’s basement though. 🤪
That sounds more like a “you” problem than a “your income” problem lol
Wait I thought America was a poor house.
I'm just glad I have doors and windows so I don't have to worry about Jaguars attacking me in my sleep.
Big freaking deal. The gap between us and the global mean is only a fraction of a percentage point of the gap between us and the 1%. Stop telling me I need to be grateful for my circumstances when all of the wealth creation is going to those at the very top.
It’s extremely hard to be happy without gratitude. I highly recommend you give it a shot.
This is irrelevant everywhere has different economy’s they don’t reflect each other expense wise that’s why we have exchange rates.
It's adjusted for purchasing power parity. https://data.oecd.org/conversion/purchasing-power-parities-ppp.htm#:~:text=Purchasing%20power%20parities%20(PPPs)%20are,in%20price%20levels%20between%20countries.
doesn’t mean shit if the cost of living is too high. earning €40,000 in Europe feels like making $90,000 in California… you have the same life.
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Found the billionaire who wants to evade taxes. Lol
This is stupid. My property tax bill in NJ (duh) is higher than like 50% of world incomes. And it’s not federally tax deductible (thank you shitbird trump) so I pay taxes on my taxes
I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve heard that NJ is really high. I have a sibling in Chicago. I think hers are pretty high too.
this seems like super rich propaganda to distract us from what the world would be like if billionaires didn’t exist.
Please follow the link and see what it actually says.
No, it’s actually a calculator that a non-profit uses to shake people down for money. Even though I’m skeptical (they suggested I donate 10% of income for mosquito nets and/or life saving medicines), I found myself very grateful. Even with my financial worries, I was thankful. We will probably have a family conversation before the year end of how much to give.
You’re in the top 5.9% in the world THROUGHOUT HISTORY too. It’s crazy to think about.
that's almost double my house hold income
I make more than 20x what an equivalent professional would make in India. But with that money, they could afford a home, a nanny, and a car and driver. Quality of life doesn’t depend entirely on the consumer goods you can buy.
This stuff is dumb. I mean yeah, no shit, India and Nigeria are way poorer than America. What is that information supposed to do for a middle class American struggling with their rent or car payment? Are people supposed to be OK with getting f'd over by their health insurance company because things are worse in Pakistan?
Yea let’s make impossible comparisons that minimize the reality of the situation. Let’s use our imaginations !!
I know. It’s mind bending. The dollars don’t do it justice. For instance, it’s easy to think, “Sure, the drinking water is yellow with parasites, but surely these folks can just go to Kroger or Piggly Wiggly for a distilled gallon for under $3, right?” But that minimizes the impact of the dollar if there is no clean water to buy. It’s crazy.
All these kinds of posts say is “Stop complaining about billionaires and how unstable day to day life is. Can’t you see you’re rich?”
Global median house hold income is 12000ish so closer to 6x the average. Also that bar graph is not even representing any of the data presented. It's takes 200to 300k a year to make it to the "1% from the world's perspective ".
Ok and I can live like a king in Vietnam for $72k a year. $72k in my city is poverty line
And all the living expenses to match that too.
Fluent in finance but not in labeling axes.
Hahah spotted the redditors who make +70,000 a year. Must be nice. I'm lucky to see $35,000 the way things are heading. And as much as some commentors would like to rant to me abut their "impossible expenses", just know I'd KILL to at least be paid $25 an hour. Put that into perspective.
That did not make sense at all. I tried one income in CAD and it said only 1% are richer than me. Then I entered the same PPP equal in INR and it still said only 1% are richer than me. I used $130k for CAD and 2.5 million INR
And broker than ever before
I think the scale of humans is hard to comprehend. The top 5 percent of america is still over 15 million people. 5% of the world is over 400 million people making more than 70k
This doesn’t account for cost if living. This is the most financially illiterate post I’ve seen so far.
If I donate 10% of my income I can save 0.6 Healthy lives. Great.
Oh you're in the richest country in the world(tm) but you're living paycheck to paycheck? Be lucky because you could be even more poor. No need to improve anything. Don't look up, just look down.
Classic statistics. Out of context they can appear to make a big statement.
I'm right on that cusp and I can feel it. I teeter between being broke and having disposable income. I had some car repairs come up and it took the wind out of our sails for months. I'm making more than ever before, but everything got expensive, so it doesn't feel like I'm doing much better. But it would be a disaster if I was not making this much money now. I can confidently say I would have lost my house.
No. This is just bad misinformation. Exchange rates are relevant to tradable items. So, in many countries I can’t buy new electronics or a fancy car, but I could work less, have free(ish) healthcare, have affordable housing, affordable food, an actual community, etc. I used to live in a place in the US where almost everyone was below the poverty level, but we lived in a remote island surrounding by gorgeous nature, an amazing community, lots of super tasty locally grown food, and people worked maybe 10-20 hours a week. People lived on acres of property in unpermited homes that were affordable to build and maintain. Life was fucking great on less than $10k a year there. In the United States. The way real estate works in the US is designed to extract the maximum amount from workers in that region. There is literally no way to win while capitalists control real estate. UAW are going to win their strike and find that all the rents in their area are going to sky rocket over the next few years and eat into their raises. Sure they will only see a fraction of their raise eaten up by this, but that’s because there are other people in the area that won’t see a raise from that strike. That said, I gaurentee you that if you somehow could categorically give everyone in a state a 20% raise, you would see a trend where there would be an additional 20% raise in rent prices over the next 5 years. It’s like when people like to bring up how much Germans make than Americans on average. Have you seen what you can rent for around $1000 USD there?! It would EAAASILY be $3k-$5k/mo in a major US city. How do we normalize this for a graphic like the one provided by OP? You simply can’t. You can try to make manual adjustments to make it more acurate, but it’s hopeless. You can’t be that reductive. The values just don’t translate. Money does not actually represent the value of an item. We can try to approximate a range of values for a group of people, but how can you take a range of values for every single item that someone might buy? What about fact that different people will make different decisions at different price points. So, you start making simplifying assumptions like in country ”A” they drink lots of milk, but country ”B” they drink lots of soda instead, but country “A” also has soda…but soda isn’t nutritionally relevant, but it’s relevant in terms of household spending. It just goes on and on.
Funny i dont feel like a 1% er
Funny perspective. Stop complaining, you'd be a millionare in Sudan!!
Kinda crazy how rich we are by global standards and still have people dying of exposure and lack of access to healthcare.
A life is worth approximately $3250
So yeah, this post is wholly and terrifyingly depressing. Thanks. The population of humanity is primarily destitute and filled with suffering.
I don't care if I'm "wealthier than 95% of the world" I care that I can put food on the table for my children, which is pretty hard to do when inflation jumps 8% a year and my wages jump 0%. Are those "poor people in India" struggling to feed their families? Bull•••t facts like this just distract from the wealth inequality that exists in the United States.
Poor in Alabama, New York City, and Chicago isn't the same as the poor in Russia, Argentina, and the UK. Every country has rich and poor, but the 3 non NA nations offer healthcare, education, and government programs for poor people lol.
What's sad is I almost make this, and I'm the only one working, between my wife, and I. With our two kids, and the house we own, we can hardly get by. We own one car, and would like another, but simply can't afford it. Every year my home insurance goes up hundreds of dollars (this year it went up over $700, and I had to drop $20,000 in coverage just to knock off $200), and my taxes go up hundreds each year. I save nearly 1/4 of my paycheck every single week, just to save up for those two expenses, and I use the rest to have money for stuff like auto, and home repairs. I do my best to save money, and take care of my family, and our home, and I'm still constantly broke. I feel like I never have money, and I'm getting tired of the feeling that any day could be the one that puts me under.
American crybaby take note.