Poll:Is your ZIP in the Super ZIP's?

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkeyeNFO ...subject to decisions made by the US Navy.

Who, I'm sure, has your best interest at heart...

[RockyMtn]

One of our zips checks in at 96....the other at 82.

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevonMiles19 95. Love the safety. Love the schools. Love the stable traditional family units. (Ironically, that is a common trait in many super-zips, but i'm sure it's just a coincidence) Hate the NorthFaceBMWAcuraCoachLuisVutton snobbery but decided i'm willing to pay that price in return for the other stuff.

Is North Face really in the same league as the others? I have a soft spot for them since we bought our hiking gear in the 1970's. Seems to be reasonably priced even now. I'd rather manufacturers did not put their brand name so prominently on their gear but it seems to be the fashion.

[MichaelB]

You people are lucky. When I was a young boy we were too poor to have a zip code.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal The Washington Post has a map where you can input your ZIP code and find out what percentile your ZIP ranks for income and college education. The link to the application is here: Washington: A world apart | The Washington Post

Cool! It tells you at a glance how prosperous a section of town is.

However, as others have noted, a Zip code may encompass a large swath of land covering many subdivisions, and there may be a large disparity within it. I looked at some and found some very interesting statistics. For example, I compare Zip A, which is a part of a well-known well-to-do town inside my metropolitan area, and Zip B which is a smaller Zip code near where I live.

Zip A: Score 97, Median Income $117K, College graduate 68%
Zip B: Score 97, Median Income $121K, College graduate 65%

I would not think Zip B would score as high as Zip A. But then Zip B is a small and more uniform area, so scores high although driving by it one would not be so impressed as with Zip A. Most people do not even know about this little area.

So, I looked at Zillow, and it gives another reason why Zip A looks more impressive. Most expensive home for sale in Zip A: $30M. Most expensive home for sale in Zip B: $6.7M. It's the most expensive homes in an area that attracts attention, and gives an area its reputation.

PS. Similarly, if one were to show average income rather than media income, I am willing to bet Zip A would pull ahead by a big margin. When a town has a billionaire or two, it drives up the average by a huge amount. And everyone would hear about where that billionaire took residence.

[nun]

My zip is 87.

The poll shows that ERers tend to live in wealthy communities. I conclude that you have to be well paid to save enough to ER.

[nun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB You people are lucky. When I was a young boy we were too poor to have a zip code.

Me too. I was born in the UK before we had post codes, name, street, town and county worked fine.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nun The poll shows that ERers tend to live in wealthy communities. I conclude that you have to be well paid to save enough to ER.

And we should remember that when we ask why the average Joe cannot retire early. It's tough to ER, unless one has a pension or makes enough to save a lot.

Hence, I am more interested to hear stories of people who can retire early with an average income.

[samclem]

We're at 90. The place where I grew up (on the other side of the country) is 90. But DW's hometown was 64, so I guess she's a social climber. I just never saw that side of her before.

[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nun The poll shows that ERers tend to live in wealthy communities. I conclude that you have to be well paid to save enough to ER.

I don't think you can draw any conclusions from the poll without a little bit more information. The zip codes are just rank-ordered, there's no linkage to the populations. It's possible (and I think likely) that the lower-ranking zip codes are rural and that fewer people live in them. Conversely, more people will be concentrated in the higher-ranking zip codes. So, like Lake Wobegon, most of America (and most American ER's) will be above average. Or at least they'll live in above average zip codes.

[Ronstar]

House in Chicago MSA is a 54. Condo in Scottsdale is 87. Glad its in the poor side of town

[jetpack]

I moved from a 96 (new york) to a 52 (small town) when I quit my day job. I saved about 10x more now I did then.

[unclemick]

28 Moving on up.

heh heh heh -

[Free To Canoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB You people are lucky. When I was a young boy we were too poor to have a zip code.

My zip is not in the data base! One nearby is 13. I was going for low score here.

[Options]

Yea, it's up there. And just this morning I figured out if I dump this place in the next couple of years instead of waiting 5 years as I have planned, I will have more than hit my "number". I'll let the trendies who are clamoring to get into this hood pay top dollar while I downsize. VG FP, ORP, FIRECALC and FIDO all say if I sell soon I'll have several hundred thousand $ at plan end vs. close to 0 if I wait 5 years. As my intention is to die owing somebody something, this is a very good feeling.

[NosmoKing]

83 and that is in an oasis...

[zesty]

I live in a 41 and work in a 94. It's a really tiny 94 though (pretty much a town that is owned by a big company), and the whole surrounding area is in the 20's.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free To Canoe My zip is not in the data base!

This reminded me of a place called Buford in Wyoming. It consists of 10 acres of land, had its own ZIP code of 82052, and its own post office that closed in 2004. During the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, 2000 railroad workers called the place home.

See: Buford, Wyoming: Meet the Only Resident of America's Smallest Town | TIME.com.

The owner sold the whole town for $900K in 2012.



The most recent sign shows a 100% gain in population. Perhaps the new owner is married, while the previous one was a widower.

[aim-high]

Grew up - 80
Live now - 95
A place I enjoyed living - 69

[Alan]

We were living in a 44 and retired to a 95. Median income is 3 times higher in our new location. Our Household income where we worked for 17 years was 6 times higher than the median where we used to live. No wonder we able to LBYM and RE.