Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Il_vino_buono t1_ir5pl61 wrote

Junk data. Median average is a terrible way to measure fat-tailed social phenomena like income.

3

InsanitysCandy t1_ir5wnur wrote

I just calculated basic numbers on a median calculator.

Here is the link if anyone is curious.

Median calculator

Edit: Basic numbers not basically.

3

Il_vino_buono t1_ir66v55 wrote

I walk into my local Dunkin, and see five of neighbors waiting for coffee. I survey them and learn that 3x make $60k a year, one makes $90k, and the last one makes $130k. The median is $80k, pretty close to the average you shared here. However, this data does not really tell you what the “average” person makes in your neighborhood. Someone making $250k could easily live next to a pensioner making $30k. Taleb does a great job explaining the asymmetric nature of social data in “Fooled by Randomness.”

In short, I really have no idea what the average income is in RI with a simple median income calculation.

2