Americans spend the equivalent 80% of their annual paycheck on trucks

Listen, I'm sure you're a nice guy and all, but you're not really helping your point here.

This is virtually the exact same measure I came up with, except you propose average car prices instead of average full-size truck prices, which does absolutely nothing to address your supposed concern that this 80% metric compares annual income with what's usually a multi-year expense.

This would be a more precise measure, to be sure. In fact, I alluded to as much at the conclusion of my original post, which would help us understand whether the households buying these expensive trucks, on average, can afford them more than the typical American household. Unfortunately, U.S. Census-related data doesn't exactly break out household for truck buyers, so to say this would be a little trickier to calculate on the fly is an understatement.

Well, I could have said that in my subject line, sure... Americans spend a lot on trucks. But the whole point of my post (cue bright, flashing lights here) was to COMPARE the average full-size truck price with some measure of typical household income. Without considering income, how else would we know how expensive these trucks are for the typical family?

Wow.

A truck is much more likely to be used as a work vehicle then a car and therefore more likely to be a deduction. I've owned trucks that cost way more than I would consider paying for a passenger car but I've needed them for work and could write off most of their expense.

Drivers of pick up trucks are THE WORST drivers on the road.

Slim Pickens wrote:

But the whole point of my post (cue bright, flashing lights here) was to COMPARE the average full-size truck price with some measure of typical household income.

But why would you compare something the typical American doesn't buy with the typical American income?

Why choose SOME measure to compare instead of an actual comparable measure to compare?

"Americans spend the equivalent 80% of their annual paycheck on trucks"

Complete false statement.

Do you think you could find one person that spent 80% of their income on a truck?

Driver Ed wrote:

Drivers of pick up trucks are THE WORST drivers on the road.

+1

Amen, OP! It's time to restore some sanity in America. I love my truck, but I was shocked to hear how much callers are paying for them nowadays. Just the other day a young man - or I should say child trapped in a man's body - called into the show with $60k debt on his truck on a good income of $80-90k. He thought he "deserved" to get himself something nice because he worked hard. You work hard, therefore you deserve to put yourself into crippling debt?

Can't believe some people are using the weak argument that the buyers of trucks aren't average Americans therefore your 80% number doesn't fit. Let's be honest, most of the Ford F150 drivers aren't your wealthy elitists. Imagine how that money would do in one of my well performing growth stock mutual funds. 10-30 years later these people will wonder where their kids's college fund or their retirement is. I'll tell you where - YOU'RE DRIVING IT!

X-Runner wrote:

Do you think you could find one person that spent 80% of their income on a truck?

I hear them call in every day.

I read articles about them every day.

There was an absolutely maddening article about a man who can't figure out why Americans can't afford cars. He just bought a $25.3K Honda Civic on an income of - get this - $26K!

Another current thread is telling me 50% of Americans earn less that $30,000 per year. Will some loan company really loan a 30 grand earner enough to buy a 43 grand truck?

X-Runner wrote:

Do you think you could find one person that spent 80% of their income on a truck?

Well, let's see... if the median American household (based on income) decides to buy a $43K truck, then yes: that household just spent roughly 80% of their income on a truck.

Simple math & semantics aside, it sounds like we're back to this petty whine of yours about the notion of comparing a number like annual salary with what's usually a multi-year expense in the form of a financed (or even leased) vehicle, right? This is your beef? Somehow in your head, once these two figures become one metric, they represent some perverse, twisted mathematical union that crosses all lines of human decency?

How else exactly would you like to express things then? Surely you agree that looking at things on a monthly basis is complete nonsense. Lease or loan payments can be distorted to be as big or as little as somebody wants. Therefore, the only way to appropriately view the cost of a truck here is its full price, which can't be distorted by financing or leasing tomfoolery.

Again, I imagine the majority of us on here are grown-up enough to understand the logical implication of a truck that costs almost 80% of our entire annual salary without getting our panties in a knot. No, nobody really saves up 80% of their salary over a year and then plops it down on a vehicle (again, big props for untangling that riddle for us). Yes, combining these two numbers - income and truck price - into a single measure is a useful way of appreciating how expensive new trucks apparently are for the typical American household.

Seriously, do your employer a favor and tell your boss to count you out of anything that requires even the slightest critical reasoning skills.

Guys, the OP is absolutely correct.

The median house price is $189k. Americans spend 460% of their annual paycheck on housing and trucks! We haven't even considered taxes yet...

This thread has the potential to eclipse the "useless degree" threads.

RE: Americans spend the equivalent 80% of their annual paycheck on trucks

People gotta live somewhere.

Annual paycheck? Who gets paid once a year?

The average household doesn't own a full size pickup truck.

Not sure what the exact term is today, but in the 90s we'd have called you retarded.

.......?..... wrote:

The average household doesn't own a full size pickup truck.

It's not hard to infer that many buyers of full size pickup trucks are average households... some of them below average.

Easy inference wrote:

.......?..... wrote:

The average household doesn't own a full size pickup truck.

It's not hard to infer that many buyers of full size pickup trucks are average households... some of them below average.

Thanks for a totally pointless piece of commentary. Yes, out of any group some will be average, some will be below average.

Got it bub.

X-Runner wrote:

The average price of a big yacht is about $1 million.

So Americans spend the equivalent of 2,000% of their annual paychecks on yachts.

Amazing!

The average price of a hot dog is about $0.50.

So hot dogs spend the equivalent of 8,600,000% of themselves on the average American.

Un F'in Believable!

And Also In Addition To wrote:

X-Runner wrote:

The average price of a big yacht is about $1 million.

So Americans spend the equivalent of 2,000% of their annual paychecks on yachts.

Amazing!

The average price of a hot dog is about $0.50.

So hot dogs spend the equivalent of 8,600,000% of themselves on the average American.

Un F'in Believable!

The average penis size is about 6 inches. But all women have zero inches of penis. So any man with junk under 12 inches is a joke and should be ridiculed.

Statistics!

X-Runner wrote:

But why would you compare something the typical American doesn't buy with the typical American income?

Ford F150 and Chevy Silverado were the top selling vehicles in the USA in 2014.

Americans spend the equivalent 80% of their annual paycheck on trucks

So you are saying that is a fair statement?

Can we assume that Americans spend the remaining 20% of their annual pay for all other purposes combined- including housing, food, communications, travel, entertainment and savings?

You could rephrase it and say:

The average price of a new truck is about 80% of the average American salary.

That would be a correct statement.

It could then lead someone to a false conclusion that people spend most of their money on trucks but at least the stat would be true.