It should be an obvious fact that all of us, readers and bloggers alike, live in the city of Johns Creek. If you don't live there....that's interesting.
Johns Creek, formerly Alpharetta, is the city many of us have come to acknowledge as home. And while there is a large income spectrum to place everyone on the board, our average household wages rank pretty well.
In the 100 most affluent cities with at least 1000 households, Skaneateles, NY ranks no. 1 (NY has a lot of spots on the list), and Johns Creek ranks...no. 100. That seems logical, because a common mentalitiy is that the south is not very "rich" as a whole and people would not expect to see several southern states ranking highly on such a scale: we naturally expect the richer folk to be up north or in sunny California. But when you change what the chart is representing, the results are...interesting.
The largest earning city with a population of at least 1000 is Belvedere, CA, a city in a state we would expect to see on this list. The top income earning city in the US is Fisher Island in Florida with a population of just 467! That's all interesting information but how does it relate to us -- Johns Creek? I will get there soon.
Now I am pretty sure that us, students at least, have a mindset that is along the lines of "The people who go to JCHS are rich,". Am I right? If not let me know why in the comments -- that's what makes blogs fun. I am sure that when you hear someone say they just passed their driving test and their parents gave them a Mercedes nonchalantly, that stirs a few emotions within you: how can you not think,"Yeesh! Kids these days...too much money,". But what's that in your hand? Most likely and iPhone or another smartphone. Don't get me wrong here: I am NOT saying your spoiled or anything like that, but I urge you to reconsider a little bit. Of course indulging in material objects is only our nature as Americans because we have lived under a roof that lives and breathes consumerism for as long as we can remember, so we have the right to spend our money how we want to, right? Although this is the tip of the iceberg for another topic, I'm going to navigate this ship around it: the point I make in this paragraph is that in some idea or another, we perceive each other in our community, especially school, as rich.
Well, bringing that to the matter at hand, Johns Creek ranks at no. 1 in both the categories of most income for cities of at least 50000 in population and highest income places based off of median household income. I find that pretty impressive. What's more, is while our city was still known as Alpharetta, I read an article that we were no. 9 in some other category of high income places.
I use this information as both a reference to put my city in perspective with others in the country, and a partial explanation for why I see so many peers who possess many objects that are nods towards an opulent lifestyle and image. Using this information, it makes a little more sense to me why we have well developed infrastructure in this pocket of Georgia, why our education system is top in the state, and why the people here are the way they are. It also gives some reason to why kids my age can drive sportscars and wear polos to school everyday.
When I read articles about this, it definitely changed my perspective about more than just the affluence of the city I live in. Maybe I shared this because I do know that many of my peers are aware of this. Maybe I shared this to provide a new perspective to them. Maybe I just shared this because it is...interesting.
Kylesh
*I am very well aware that the figures used to give these income rankings are not representative of everyone -- like in everything, there are always outliers.
Charts with Income Ranks
A little more generic
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