It Really Grinds My Gears When....

Newspapers will publish oh-woe-is-us statistics from governmental bodies, but refuse to include any context for what they mean. The PPG moaned today that Pittsburgh is the 5th poorest big city, with a measly median household income of $32,363. First, they don't stop to define what a big city is. If Pittsburgh is a "larger city", is Erie also considered big? Is Morgantown? Presumably Cleveland is a big city too, and we're wealthier than them, so at least we have that going for us.

Articles like this never provide any context for this number. For example, according to CNN.com, the top 5 most expensive American cities for renters and their average rental rates were:

1.) New York - $2,553
2.) San Francisco - $1,685
3.) Boston - $1,632
4.) New Haven, CT - $1,485
5.) Orange County, CA - $1,458

According to apartments.com, Pittsburgh's average 2007 rent was $662. This is about 25% of what New York pays for example. New York City is not listed as one of the highest earning places by the study the Post-Gazette cites, however. In fact, the Census bureau indicates that New York's median household income in 2004 (the latest number I could find) was $45,343. This is only 40% higher. So while New Yorker's pay over three and half times more for rent, they only make about 40% more.

Framing the article around facts such as these might have made Pittsburgher's appreciate their relatively low cost of living. But instead the Post-Gazette took it as an opportunity to make us feel poor, and that's what really grinds my gears. Oh, and here's the study.