Random User Survey #5

[Jason Dunn]

It's the holiday season! It's survey time! This one concerns the issue of household income. Please remember that this data is not correlated with your user account in any way, so your privacy and security are not at risk. Thanks for your honesty!<br /><br /><b>UPDATE:</b> There seems to be a bit of confusion as to why I'm asking this question (I knew the money one would be touchy), so here's why: this part of collecting data so that I can tell advertisers more about my readers. Demographic information is an important part of being able to sell advertisements - if the advertiser doesn't know WHO he's selling to, he might not think it's worth the investment to buy ads on this site. So by answering the surveys I'm doing, you're helping me sell ads, which keeps the site going and pays the bills. And, again, the data isn't cross-linked with any other information - your privacy is completely safe.

[KyleC]

Income, huh? Well you've asked us about every other thing you could possibly think of... gender, age, etc. Is the point of these so-called "random" surveys all part of a twisted plot to modify advertising ploys and then spam our inboxes? :wink:

[mpattman]

I guess that the values are in US Dollars ?

[Daimaou]

And I do have as well a Ferrari, Just if you need to know... really think that this survey is more going to be soon in the hands of a third and profitable company. :D

[yvilla]

Wow! We're a pretty rich bunch of geeks. I wonder if these percentages are going to hold up as more answer the poll, like the gender percentages did?

[Bob S]

Boy

am I underpaid 8O

[xbalance]

I'm thinking that >$81k is a pretty large bucket.

[hshortt]

Have to wonder as why this is at all useful information to thoughts? :!:

[Venturello]

Makes me feel poor the demographics on this site's readers... or are they not being honest? hmmmm

/me wonders....

[Rirath]

Well it does say household income... but still... ouch. 8O

[Daimaou]

Well it does say household income... but still... ouch. 8O

No please are you kidding ? are you really thinking that 100% of those answers are Honest? Please tell... it is a Joke?

[don dre]

Two incomes that top $81k isn't all that much. Have to ask how many of those 81+ incomes are single or one income otherwise it could well be two $41k earners.

[PhatCohiba]

We love you Jason, but you underestimate us.

Those of us over 35 years old and may have a spouse working as well can pull in quite a load, we are most likely in high tech some where.

-jb

[EyePAQ]

Now ask if that is dual incomes or a single income, kids or not kids...

[JvanEkris]

Eyepaq,

Kids do not add to this total :( They just add extra cost (which was not part of the question).

For me, it is relatively easy to reach 81K+. My girlfriend and i are both MSc's, working for large enterprises in Europe.....

Jaap

[JMountford]

I am thinking Someone is taking his work home with him. Demographics are very misleading Jason. Just remember that.

If there were really that many people visiting this site whos hoeshold incomeis over 81,000.00 I would not have near the trouble I am finding investers. Of course I am not really trying either.

[Jason Dunn]

Is the point of these so-called "random" surveys all part of a twisted plot to modify advertising ploys and then spam our inboxes? :wink:

No spamming will occur, trust me on that. :-) But, yes, it's part of collecting data so that I can tell advertisers more about my readers. Demographic information is an important part of being able to sell advertisements - if the advertiser doesn't know WHO he's selling to, he might not think it's worth the investment.

So by answering the surveys I'm doing, you're helping me sell ads, which keeps the site going. And, again, the data isn't cross-linked with any other data - your privacy is completely safe.

[Jason Dunn]

Have to wonder as why this is at all useful information to thoughts? :!:

I updated the front-page post with the answer to that. Hopefully it clears it up for you...but please ask any questions here if it doesn't.

[Jason Dunn]

We love you Jason, but you underestimate us.

It wasn't intentional :lol: - I based the number brackets off of another survey I found elsewhere.

[powder2000]

Don't really see how this is relevant. :? I think I'll sit this one out for my own good!

[rsajdak]

I believe that these reponses are accurate. Let's face it, a great percentage of the visitors of this site are either in tech or engineering fields. Most of these jobs pay well and if you have a dual-income household (where both members are in these fields), then incomes over $120 are not uncommon. Also keep in mind that some areas of the country pay more then others, and unfortunately the cost of living is also higher. At the end of the day, it's not as much as most would assume.

[blackbarby]

Hey if any of you single tech guys would like to talk to a single chemistry turned business woman please let me know!!! LOL

[Sven Johannsen]

Now ask if that is dual incomes or a single income, kids or not kids...

You know there is an official acronym for that, DINK, Dual Income No Kids.

[jojaboi]

Okay,
I kinda fudged a lil, I guess you could say. I'm no "techy". I'm a hard workin' nuclear fabric worker/ nuclear special emphasis worker at norfolk naval shipyard. My base pay is nowhere near the bracket that I chose but, this year I'm there and I'm proud of my 900+ hrs of ot so I chose what I made this year. In my defense, I'll probably be workin even more next year in cali n NY so I think I'm deserving. By the way, I still came nowhere near the last bracket and to top it all off I'm takin' care of both of my grown, jobless brothers. :oops:

brandon

[jpaq]

Someone said that demographics can give false impressions. I couldn't agree more.

Take an $81,000 + reader.

If Single:
They have a single person's expenses. Rent/Mortgage, Insurance, Food, etc.
Same Single person may be 35 years old and paying down $10,000 of credit card debt. There is a marked difference in the "disposable income" of these two situations.

Throw the expense of a child or children (not mentioned in relation to the income survey), cost of living, whether that is a one or two income $81K+, etc. and the survey doesn't end up telling us a lot.

Then again, someone we know recently took a high level marketing position at a PPC software company and these surveys didn't start hard and heavy until then...
Are we seeing a connection here? :?:

Jason?
:D

[garrans]

Jason,

Looks like you got yourself a good target market, with a significant portion of your readership over 60K household, I hope that allows you to get better rates.

Keep up the great work.

Steve.

[surur]

The demographic of the Pocketpcthoughts group appears to be much similar to the days of the early internet.

This was mainly well-off, well educated technology loving men.

This indicates that pocketpc's still have to make the demographic transition to the general population. It would be very interesting to have all the results of these "random polls" (which appear to be actually a spaced list of demographic questions ) collated on one page, just so we can see who we are (for the short of memory who cant remember the result of all the questions) :)

Surur

[Jason Dunn]

Someone said that demographics can give false impressions. I couldn't agree more.

Very true. Demographic information collected in this fashion cannot be presented as being truly accurate - I have no way of fact checking this information. Ultimately it's just some info for

Isn't it funny though how uptight people get about this question versus other questions I've asked? Very interesting indeed...the human attachment to money is facinating. :lol:

Then again, someone we know recently took a high level marketing position at a PPC software company and these surveys didn't start hard and heavy until then...

I knew I should have started these surveys before I started working for Spb. No, they're not related - this is for my advertising document. Seriously! Really! I've never lied to you guys... :!:

[Jason Dunn]

It would be very interesting to have all the results of these "random polls" (which appear to be actually a spaced list of demographic questions ) collated on one page, just so we can see who we are (for the short of memory who cant remember the result of all the questions) :)

Sure, I'll see what I can do!

[wrightca]

It's not hard for two incomes to add up to 81k+. I actually underestimated my family's income because I didn't think I could possible make that much being in the military. My wife and I just pass 81k and we are both military. There's no doubt she could make considerably more money outside the military (Nurse) and there's a good chance I would, as well (Computer Engineer/Communications).

[dochall]

Just out of interest does anybody know the average wage in the US?

[jpaq]

I didn't mean to upset you Jason. I was just kidding around, hence the emoticons.

I don't think anyone cares about the purpose of the survey. I do think it is very interesting how this audience reacts to it though. I think it says something for the analytical nature of this group.

As far as the reaction to the Income question, you are right. People are very touchy about that subject. The other end of the coin is that "How much do you spend per month..." is a different kind of question. The answer likely varies month to month and therefore the nswer can be correct one onth and incorrect another and it tells nothing about the person providing the answer. The income answer is fairly constant and commits the person providing the answer to reveal something absolute and somewhat unchangeable about themselves.

Anyway. Enough of my mindless drivel.

Let's eat cake!! :D

[moaske]

First of all: i havent answered the question yet....but that's due to the fact that it aint very specific.
Most important: do you mean the income BEFORE or AFTER taxes ? I live in europe in the netherlands, and let me tell you that the taxes here sure eat up quite a chunk of off my wage.
As soon as i know this, i'll try to covert it from euro's to dollars :D :D

[brianchris]

I would agree about people's reaction to this question as being unusual. Ask someone how frequently they make love, and you have detailed volumes of data: http://www.msnbc.com/news/839720.asp

Ask them how much money they make, and its a different story :wink:

-Brian

[ThomasC22]

I would agree about people's reaction to this question as being unusual. Ask someone how frequently they make love, and you have detailed volumes of data: http://www.msnbc.com/news/839720.asp


The poor spanish, I bet most of them don't make $81+ thousand a year either :)

Seriously, I didn't mind answering the question but I do agree that it would probably be a lot more useful to advertisers if they knew the number of wage earners in the household, kids, etc...

But then again maybe that's random survey #6...

[rsajdak]

Just out of interest does anybody know the average wage in the US?

Here's what I found on the US Census page: http://www.census.gov/

INCOME IN 1999

Households

Less than $10,000 10,067,027 9.5
$10,000 to $14,999 6,657,228 6.3
$15,000 to $24,999 13,536,965 12.8
$25,000 to $34,999 13,519,242 12.8
$35,000 to $49,999 17,446,272 16.5
$50,000 to $74,999 20,540,604 19.5
$75,000 to $99,999 10,799,245 10.2
$100,000 to $149,999 8,147,826 7.7
$150,000 to $199,999 2,322,038 2.2
$200,000 or more 2,502,675 2.4
Median household income (dollars) 41,994 (X)