Middle Classiest: Beijing Features China's Highest Median Income

Steven Schwankert | Dec 27, 2015 9:00 am | 1 comment | 6336 reads

Of all the middle class residents of China's three top-tier cities -- Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai -- Beijing residents are the middle classiest, with 55 percent of Beijingers classified as middle class, and having the highest median income at RMB 256,016 per year, China Daily reported.

We already knew that Beijing was a good place to be a billionaire, but middle class Beijingers' individual income would place them between Kuwaitis and the Dutch on a 2013 poll by American research firm Gallup. They are still lagging behind their American counterparts, who have a median annual income of RMB 337,660.

Regardless, life is at least stable, if not good, for these Beijingers. More than 60 percent own homes, and more than half own cars, the report said.

Beijing's middle class is a fairly literate bunch, and their buying preferences may indicate why many of Beijing's open-air and outdoor markets have moved outside of the city. "An average middle class citizen reads 12 books per year, and 62 percent buy food in supermarkets, compared with 37.6 percent of the less wealthy group choosing to do so - they prefer the cheaper street markets," China Daily said.

Shanghai placed second in terms of size of middle class and median income, with Guangzhou placing behind the other cities.

Photo: Jamaica Observer

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squid's picture squid Submitted by Guest on Sun, 12/27/2015 - 20:12

Me,

You are exactly right. There is no way this is the median income in Beijing. I said something similar a while back when this site was talking about the raising fees of the subway, and they tried to argue about the avergae income in Beijing, as if even that meant that most people earned a certain amount.

The reality is that in Beijing, as in many places in the world these days, there are some people that make an extreme amount of money, and this in turn makes it seem as if most people are around the average. When in fact most people are not even close to the average, which is deceptive because of the few who earn a lot.

Take this for example, more than half of the people own cars! Oh reall? How many cars are there in Beijing? How many people? And how many people own more than one car? Then add in all the company cars. So we are to believe there are some what, 20 million cars in Beijing? Really? I don't think so.

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