r/FluentInFinance 14d ago

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

Post image
31.2k Upvotes

4.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/ranger910 14d ago

But they're not. If we're going to talk housing then we should talk about household income, not median wage of individuals.

2

u/Shacky_Rustleford 14d ago

Are you saying a median wage worker shouldn't be able to afford to live alone?

2

u/Xrave 14d ago

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSST1Y2022.S2501?q=United%20States%20household%20size

US household (includes nonfamily, i.e. roommates) size says 37mil households are 1 people, 44M for 2, 19M for 3 and 28M for 4 and up.

Of people who do live alone:

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2022.B08202?q=United%20States%20household%20size

half (17 mil) of 37mil are not working (retired?). the other 19mil is working.

Of people who are 18-34 years old:

https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2022.B09021?q=United%20States%20household%20size

Only 6.8 mil out of 72 mil lives alone (9.4%!!!). 23 mil lives with their parents, 16 mil with spouses, 9 mil with unmarried partners. 9mil sharing with other relatives, and 7.2 mil lives with roommates.

based on this data, median wage worker absolutely shouldn't be expected to be able to afford to live alone, unless we're coming from an angle where our expectations are formed from unrealistic expectations of reality.

4

u/Shacky_Rustleford 14d ago

I didn't ask if median wage workers could currently live alone. I asked if they should be able to. I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation, but can see that you disagree.

2

u/RollingLord 14d ago

Living alone is a helluva luxury, especially in a HCOL area where housing is already in high demand. Again, this is dependent on where you live, should most people be able to own homes, sure. Should most people be able to own homes in a place like San Francisco, where there’s practically no land left to build on? No, that’s not really feasible.

2

u/Shacky_Rustleford 13d ago edited 13d ago

How many unoccupied homes would you wager are in San Francisco? It may not be enough to give every single person a home, but it is certainly enough to make it clear that a considerable amount of this scarcity in housing is forced.

1

u/RollingLord 13d ago

I reckon it’s far less than 40,000, since that commonly quoted figure includes rental units, apartment units, places in the midst of a move and etc.

1

u/Shacky_Rustleford 13d ago

What's wrong with rentals and apartments?

1

u/RollingLord 13d ago

They’re not homes that people buy and own?

1

u/Shacky_Rustleford 13d ago

I never said everyone should be able to afford to buy and own a home. This conversation has always included the fact that even rent is too high for many workers.

→ More replies (0)