# A Doper Income/Education/Other Census Poll (anonymous obviously) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092 "2009-10-08T19:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/1 "2009-10-08T19:05:44Z")
While I’m not comfortable sharing things like financial details online, I am curious as to the demographics of the Dope and would be willing to answer them anonymously. Hopefully others will also, thus, a census poll. Okey doke- I wanted to ask questions other than just the income but can’t figure if there’s a way to do so (mainly education, geography, relationship status, age, etc.). Can you ask more than one question on these polls? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/2 "2009-10-08T19:38:31Z")
I’m a grad student. (And a masters student at that, not the PhD-type that gets automatic TA jobs.) Obviously I am really poor. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/3 "2009-10-08T19:53:20Z")
My husband and I are BOTH grad students. Does that make us twice as poor? (Actually, we’re quite comfortable, but I’ve noticed our definition of ‘‘comfortable’’ is vastly different than a lot of Dopers’.) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/4 "2009-10-08T20:36:12Z")
My wife staying home with our baby this year dropped us down a peg on your little polly scale thing. Still, we’re pretty comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/5 "2009-10-08T20:36:27Z")
Mrs. Homie and I together make pretty much the median family income for Sangamon County. Granted, there’s a vast difference between Sangamon County, Illinois and, say, Westchester County, New York. But by central Illinois standards we’re in the exact middle. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/6 "2009-10-08T20:39:52Z")
The simplified answer is I’m a software quality engineer. The long answer is interesting, but I’m too lazy to write it. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/7 "2009-10-08T22:03:14Z")
I’d have put in a few more gradations on the upper end. I’d be idly curious how many we have with $1,000,000+ annual incomes ( all sources of income tallied ). Given the diversity of locations, $100K is a decent indicator of at least doing well, but not necessarily subjective wealth in really expensive markets like SF or NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/8 "2009-10-08T22:05:15Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I’d have put in a few more gradations on the upper end. I’d be idly curious how many we have with $1,000,000+ annual incomes ( all sources of income tallied ). Given the diversity of locations, $100K is a decent indicator of at least doing well, but not necessarily subjective wealth in really expensive markets like SF or NYC. You’re limited to four. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/9 "2009-10-08T22:07:24Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > You’re limited to four. Really? Is that new? The pet poll has [ten](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533480). ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/10 "2009-10-08T22:38:03Z")
Yes, I agree with Tamerlane - living in Sydney, even if you do the math to USD from AUD, 100K is…well, it’s ok. Not, yanno, great or anything. ---
**Author:** ![JoseArcadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@JoseArcadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseArcadio)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/11 "2009-10-09T08:36:28Z")
I’m comfortable sharing this sort of info. I converted my income from GBP to USD and turns out I earn $22,500. Sounds a lot better than £14,100! I work for a charity doing admin (equivalent jobs in the private sector typically start between £16-£18K). ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/12 "2009-10-09T10:52:49Z")
My wife’s mid-way through a medical degree so our income is lower than it might otherwise be… in 5-6 yrs time it should be at least double though. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/13 "2009-10-09T10:57:09Z")
I make significantly more than the average grad student, it seems (at least per PhDComics 😉 ). But education doesn’t relate to money, right? Look at the graduate students, they are making less money yet they’re probably more educated than others who are out there. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/14 "2009-10-09T12:44:17Z")
Foreign aid worker, living in Kabul. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/15 "2009-10-09T15:34:08Z")
After some calcul/conversion, I can say we live just a bit above the poverty line for France or the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/16 "2009-10-09T15:48:28Z")
Damn, I didn’t think this board would skew as well-off as it is. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/17 "2009-10-09T16:53:39Z")
It doesn’t surprise me, though. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/18 "2009-10-09T17:00:10Z")
Meh, $100,000 isn’t that much in a two-income household. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/19 "2009-10-09T17:03:27Z")
Yeah, I think the “household income” part is skewing things. I’d have phrased it as “household income divided by the number of adults.” ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092/20 "2009-10-09T17:26:18Z")
$100,000 per year in Sangamon County, Illinois = Doin’ pretty damn well! $100,000 per year in Crawford County, Missouri = Holy SHIT you’re loaded! $100,000 per year in Westchester County, New York = We’re just scrapin’ by. Maybe a new poll should be created w/r/t your income vis a vis the median family income in your state/county/country/etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-doper-income-education-other-census-poll-anonymous-obviously/513092.md?page=2)