WatchI've created a page to display IRS tax return data by zip code, broken down by adjusted gross income (AGI) class. Here's an example:
http://patrick.net/housing/irs_data.php?zip=94025
It's pretty interesting. It would be even more interesting to correlate it with house prices.
How else can I improve the presentation, or navigation?
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Belmont, CA
thomas.wong1986 says
Not really. Its not about intelligence or experience. Its about connections, rainmaking and first picks.
Dont think that one's capability enables success. It doesn't. Your lack of capability can destroy your chances, but most of the folks making mega bank or are famous are mostly lucky schmucks, right place, right time, right connections, right parents.
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bmwman91 says
Yes, is that insane or what? Of course that's an average, so one billion-dollar payout skews it quite a bit. That's the problem with living near all those venture capitalists.
drew_eckhardt says
I will do the percentages in income ranges, but I don't think the IRS knows the number of children per family, just the number of dependents.
I will try to get professions by zip code from some other source. Yes, they are all 1040s, but lots of stuff from other forms gets distilled and ends up on your 1040 too.
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Patrick says
Yeah, but those rats live in los altos, los altos hills, palo alto, palo alto hills, portola and woodside. Maybe a few Hillsborough and the rest in the City.
I dont think a billion dollar payout would show up in AGI, it would be unearned income.
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Good idea, I will add in total tax liability divided by AGI.
I think the low unemployment comp just means that most people who filed returns didn't get much unemployment money.
Now that I look a little more closely, even though capital gains goes up hugely in the top tier, those people still get most of their money on average from wages and salaries.
There is huge wealth in unrealized stock gains that doesn't show up in that chart at all. For example, Sergei Brin lives in Menlo Park, and I bet almost all his Google worth is still in stock that he never sold and so doesn't have to report.
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samsmom says
What you are doing wrong is actually working for a living!
America punishes hard work and rewards merely living off the work of other people.
That's what the ultra-low capital gains tax is all about.
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bmwman91's website
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So the average AGI for the $200k+ group is $764k???
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Sunnyvale, CA
How about number of returns in each income range as a percentage of the total and average number of children per family?
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Patrick says
Profession of tax payers... are these all 1040s only ?
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Very cool. Thanks Patrick.
The line for mortgage deduction is pretty interesting...
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Patrick says
in many ways.. VC's are beggers with this great promise of higher return with of course taking higher risk...they beg for people who can afford to lose $5,000,000 at the minimum without blinking. And many have lost their shirt.
Giving away $5M to a few veterans like Don Valintine is more palatable vs someone who is bearly 30 years of age..today there are too many inexperienced VCs.
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Mick Russom says
Mick,
Living in the fortress increases your kids' chance to be ....... right............. As you've mentioned above.
Why don't you bust your ass to become the right parents and give your kids a chance to meet the right connections and become one of those lucky schmucks instead of whining on the Internet?
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Patrick,
Looks like the top tier's total tax liability over AGI is around 22% while the 2nd top tier's tax liability is 14%.
Interesting that the top tier's passive income (interest & dividend) is over $82k per year. I can live pretty comfortable in the south bay based on that passive income.
The unemployment compensation is very low, less than 2%, across the board. Does this mean 98% of the people are working???
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Low income and welfare don't have to file.
I bet they are not included.
I have no problem with VC.
If someone pays $100 billion for Facebook or $1500 for gold, that is his own problem.
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Belmont, CA
E-man says
Wont work. The SillyCON valley has changed sufficiently to the point with even two good jobs and some modest connections busting your ass is a crap-shoot with terrible odds. And while busting my ass I cant spend time with the kids.
Its times to leave this idiot rat race. Best of luck chasing pie in the sky.
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It would be interesting, possibly useful, to see the tax returns graphed on Google Earth. Color the zip codes from brown (dirt-poor) to green (rich, the color of money) based on how rich they are.
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Dan8267 says
BA(sorry,fortress!) will be lush green.
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Good idea. How could I also illustrate a huge inequality of income in a zip code? Menlo Park is like that. There is a very poor part on the east side of highway 101, and it gets richer and richer as you move west on the other side.
Also, how do you shade a whole zip code? I tried to do that once but couldn't find all the boundary data. Maybe Google maps now has zip code boundaries as a feature?
Ah, yes, searching for just 94025 in Google maps does outline the zip code.
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Patrick says
Option 1
Use hue to indicate the median income and brightness or saturation to indicate the standard deviation.
Option 2
Use 9 digit zip codes instead of 5 digit ones. The greater resolution will allow for showing huge income gaps in small areas.
Option 3
Use a linear gradient that goes from the min value to the median value to the max value. This would show how the wealth is spread, but the maps would look a bit confusing.
Option 4
Break into the IRS database and get all the individual returns. Then paint each house by it's income. You'll also need to adjust for income hiding by doubling the reported income of registered Republicans.
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Patrick says
OK, done. Last row is total tax liability divided by AGI. And the first row is the % of returns in each income class.
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This is great! Very interesting and indeed gives some insight into particular locale's buying power and real estate prices.
One request: please add median values. The averages in the highest bracket are really skewed up by super earners and you'll always find a few in posh towns.
Thanks!