How much $ do you make?

amother

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 9:47 pm

Me and my husband are having a debate about what the average salary is in the jewish community. I know it's all relative to many things but I am just curious. My husband think I am overly generous when I take my guess and that I am not realistic as to what is going in the world. You can include duel income, weekly, yearly or whatever.....

causemommysaid

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 9:52 pm

amother wrote:

very broad question. why would the jewish community have a different income than anyone else if we do the same jobs?

Shouldnt a frum doctor, lawyer, accountant, speech therepist, public school teacher earn the same as non frum pple doing the same thing?

rachelbg

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 9:55 pm

Something about this thread (if it progresses like OP thinks it should) makes me uncomfortable. I hope people don't choose to open this thread, see other imamother's numbers and feel bad about themselves and their family's earnings.

I know it would make me uncomfortable and second-guess myself.

(Which is why I'm posting this before it can/does turn into a comparison party.)

amother

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 9:56 pm

ysmommy wrote:

amother wrote:

Yes you are right but I feel like we have so many more expenses like tuition, kosher food, shabbos... that we have to work more jobs and put in more effort to make it, but you can omit that line if it's throwing you off.

octopus

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 10:00 pm

saw50st8 wrote:

If I had to guess on the median salary of my observant neighbors it would be in the $150-175,000 range with cost of living to match.

either you are over-guessing or you live in an area where most ppl are very, very comfortable.

causemommysaid

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 10:02 pm

amother wrote:

ysmommy wrote:

amother wrote:

so the real question is what is the average DISPOSABLE income in the frum world. That I would venture to say is significantly less than in the secular world as everything is more expensive in our lifestyle.

for my family the answer is nothing. right now we need every penny. Hopefully after we are both done school and have some more work experience we will actually have extra money for spending

saw50st8

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 10:06 pm

octopus wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

If I had to guess on the median salary of my observant neighbors it would be in the $150-175,000 range with cost of living to match.

either you are over-guessing or you live in an area where most ppl are very, very comfortable.

I believe the median income in my Town is about $90k. That includes some really, really poor areas.

Then you have the mega bankers who make $250k+.

But there are a lot of complaints about being about to afford tuition in the $175k-200k range. There was even a blog with this name.

octopus

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 10:11 pm

saw50st8 wrote:

octopus wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

If I had to guess on the median salary of my observant neighbors it would be in the $150-175,000 range with cost of living to match.

either you are over-guessing or you live in an area where most ppl are very, very comfortable.

b'h I think my family is doing pretty okay and we don't make near that! that is why the first picture that comes to mind is a pricey neighborhood.

seeker

Sun, Mar 25 2012, 10:41 pm

amother wrote:

ysmommy wrote:

amother wrote:

I agree, I think it's very likely that frum people work more jobs or more hours or chose a more lucrative profession due to need. Not talking about disposable vs total income, just about the starting line - if you make more because you need more, you're still making more. On the other hand if you need more and you don't make more, you're in trouble. So a more informative survey might be to combine two questions: What do you make, and what's your total budget.

amother

Mon, Mar 26 2012, 3:18 am

In regards to the poster who said this thread makes her uncomfortable: While I certainly understand where she's coming from, this can probably be said about 85% of all threads on Imamother. We can look at any thread and pick up on something to be jealous about or insecure about. (Nothing against the poster that said this - I myself have to work on my jealousy.)

In answer to the original question - we live in Israel.

I get paid about $2000 a month, depending on the hours I put in.
My husband gets paid about 8200 shekel, which I believe is also about $2000, perhaps a bit more.
Thankfully, those are our take-home salaries.
Tuition is minimal compared to America (though it's still a nice percentage of our salaries), but other things are just ridiculous. The price of food is a biggie, rent, taxes, the fact that public transportation and utilities keep rising, and so on.

shabbatiscoming

Mon, Mar 26 2012, 7:31 am

octopus wrote:

saw50st8 wrote:

If I had to guess on the median salary of my observant neighbors it would be in the $150-175,000 range with cost of living to match.

either you are over-guessing or you live in an area where most ppl are very, very comfortable.

I will agree with saw (as I know where she lives and I grew up there too) that she is not over guessing at all.

Mrs.K

Mon, Mar 26 2012, 7:56 am

imaima wrote:

I don't get it. Does OP assume everyone lives in the US? WHat is the point of the thread if there are people here from all over the world with all sorts of different options? Who is she comparing herself with?

I don't think she's comparing herself as much as trying to determine how much a Jewish family needs to live these days, and whether it's more then a non-Jewish family. Regardless of where one lives, they probably have tuition, bills, utilities, yom tov expenses, and so on.

imaima

Mon, Mar 26 2012, 8:03 am

Mrs.K wrote:

imaima wrote:

But they also have different state assistance, chinuch expectations, kosher and regular food price variations, public transportation prices, gas prices etc.