Going BIG in the Bay: Earning & Spending
Ahhh—the Bay Area. With its postcard coastlines, twinkling cities, Mediterranean climate and extraordinary access to great food, culture and arts… it’s definitely la dolce vita. Who wouldn’t want to be waking up everyday in paradise?
But, just who are you waking up with? A little digging uncovered some stats that weren’t shockers. As noted by the Marin IJ, Marin County “posted California’s highest median income—$107,856—on joint tax returns, the state tax department reported…”
The top four counties in the state: following Marin were Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara—all in the Bay Area—no eyebrows being raised again. But, Marin’s median was 20% higher than 2nd place… (no wonder it’s hard to buy a house in my neck of the woods…)
“San Mateo County’s median income for joint returns was $89,672, followed by Santa Clara County at $89,618 and Contra Costa County at $83,605.”
While Marin does rake it the dough—it sure knows how to spend it, too. According to another Marin IJ article, the registers at the malls and shops in Marin should be doing ringing and ringing during this holiday season. Marinites have won the shopaholics award, as the biggest spenders in the U.S.—shelling out $69,782 a year. Don’t worry, the rest of the Bay should be quite merry as well—Santa Clara ($59,803) and San Mateo ($63,229) weren’t too far behind.
And if you are working in any of the retailers or car dealerships—it’s not too shabby, as Bay Area shoppers are keeping these branches high on the national scorecard. Sonnen BMW in Marin sells more BMWs than any other dealership in the country and the shoppers checking out at the Novato Costco spend $15 more per basket than other Costcos.
Of the total spending, ~30% is spent on housing, roughly $21,000 a year. This was the most interesting fact. Breaking it down, that’s less than $2,000 a month! It looks like most are either renting or in a home they bought back in the ’80s, when prices equated to a less than $2K a month mortgage.
What are you spending on? Are you trying to keep up with the Jones?
