How's The Economy? It Depends How Much You Make

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By Tom Acitelli

June 30, 2008 | 12:42 p.m

How's The Economy? It Depends How Much You Make

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Jonathan Miller's Matrix blog alerted us to Gallup polling out last week on how Americans view the economy. It turns out that their annual income may have a lot to do with shaping that view (see above graph).

Basically, as Gallup notes, the more you make, the more optimistic you are right now. The less you make, the more pessimistic.

[I]t is not surprising that upper-income Americans are also generally less likely to rate the economy as "poor." For example, during the week of June 16-22, 40% of those making at least $90,000 a year gave this rating. "Poor" ratings were proportionally higher among those making $60,000 to less than $90,000 (42%), $24,000 to less than $60,000 (47%), and less than $24,000 a year (56%).

Where would most of New York City fall along this pessimism-optimism divide? The city's median household income, according to the most recent Census estimates, was roughly $46,000 (in 2006 dollars). We're leaning toward pessimistic.