[escapedmoose]

I’ve been a subscriber to the print edition of Wired for about 4 or 5 years now. Lately the ads and articles targeted at the absurdly-affluent have got on my nerves, and I don’t think I’ll renew again. I can’t say whether this is because the ads are now more pervasive, or because I’ve become more class-conscious over time.

As a side note, does anyone find it ridiculous that a combined household income of $100k is supposedly “affluent?” When my partner and I broke that barrier, we were living in a shitty apartment with a roommate. Didn’t feel affluent

[ForHackernews]

> does anyone find it ridiculous that a combined household income of $100k is supposedly “affluent?”

It's 150% of the median household income[0] in the United States, so no I don't think it's that ridiculous.

[0] https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-27...

[jseliger]

Depends on where you are and who you are. Housing costs vary dramatically across the U.S.: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mac.20170388.

In addition, most zoning regulations reduce the supply of housing and thus raise prices as demand go up. Someone who bought a place in California or New York or Boston 30 years ago may have seven figures in a primary asset and relatively low earnings.

[BizarroLand]

I'm making $120k in Seattle and it seems like I'm no better off than my mom was making $35k as a nurse when I was a kid. Sure, that was 20 something years ago but its absurd how I make nearly 4x the money and it still doesn't go as far as it used to.

Annual vacations, family car, 3 bd house at an affordable price. Sure, we didn't have cable but we would get dvd rentals and broadcast TV worked pretty well. Now you are lucky to get 3 channels that work consistently even with an amplified antenna.

[escapedmoose]

I feel the same way. My SO and I together bring in over 2x the median US household income in a below-average COL area outside a small city, no kids. We have a comfortable life: own our home, one modest vacation per year, and have some money left over each month to spend on hobbies. But damn, this doesn’t feel like “affluence” to me.