# does it cost a lot to make a "gated community"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-cost-a-lot-to-make-a-gated-community/587311>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 29, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-cost-a-lot-to-make-a-gated-community/587311 "2011-06-29T21:02:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\
**Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-cost-a-lot-to-make-a-gated-community/587311/41 "2011-06-30T17:36:06Z")

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> [@code\_grey](#):
>
> gated communities seem stereotypically associated with “rich people”. By contrast, a “gated trailer park” is not at present a popular meme.
> 
> So how come? Is setting up a perimeter fence with razor wire on top at present sufficiently expensive that only a rich neighborhood could afford it? Or is this just a matter of cultural difference between the sort of people who manage middle class neighborhoods and “rich” neighborhoods, so that the middle class ones don’t do it “because that’s not how it’s done” as opposed to because it is objectively not feasible?

I don’t know about where you live, but I’ve never, ever seen an upscale gated community ringed with razor wire. I would think it’d be considered rather gauche.

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-cost-a-lot-to-make-a-gated-community/587311/42 "2011-07-05T15:53:33Z")

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The trailer park next to my neighborhood is _almost_ a gated community. It has a wall all the way around it. It’s only missing gates and guards.

In Mexico, lots and lots of middle-class people live in proper gated communities. Heck, I’ve lived in Mexican gated communities. It’s usually a legitimate security issue in Mexico, though.

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**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-it-cost-a-lot-to-make-a-gated-community/587311/43 "2011-07-05T18:22:37Z")

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Bin Laden lived in a gated community for all the good that did him.

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