After Century, Room and Board in City Still Stings - New York Times

After Century, Room and Board in City Still Stings - New York Times: Again, some more interesting numbers about living in a city; these are just some of them:

"In the 1970's and 1980's, cities like Buffalo and Detroit that had been hubs of manufacturing fell into a downward spiral.

But New York fought off that fate as it capitalized on its status as a world capital of finance, said Edward L. Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard University. 'That's really been the reason for New York's turnaround,' he said.

In the last two decades, the disparity between the incomes of New Yorkers and other Americans has widened. Twenty years ago, the average New York household income, which was just shy of $30,000, was about 25 percent higher than the typical American family's, the report states. By 2003, New York households were earning more than $66,000, on average, 33 percent more than the typical American family.

The New York family's expenses in 2003 were about 25 percent higher, at $50,319, than the national average. The bulk of that money went toward housing, transportation and food, in that order. And, by 2003, New York families may have been healthier too. Of every $100 they spent, less than $1 went toward alcohol and only 50 cents to cigarettes.

The trend over the century for alcohol was the opposite for Boston. Spending on alcohol there, as a share of all expenditures, nearly doubled."