Pretty shocked at that finding I’ll be honest, are US wages high in general? To be on 100k+ in the UK you have to be in a very high end job. I’d also imagine that since 2009 the average triathlete has changed quite a lot with the better access to the sport.


Edit - just read that study and the $126k figure is household income not just their personal income. Safe to assume a fair proportion of them are married/ have partners so that’s a pretty skewed figure that they are using. But at least it kind of makes more sense.

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@the.lazy.triathlete

https://www.strava.com/athletes/18691068

a random stranger on the internet is ranting about how others should spend their money and I’m the d—-? Thanks for undescoring my point.

No, I think you're definitely one of those missing the point.

If you start a thread to talk about, essentially, about others spending a lot of money perhaps unwisely or flippantly on bikes and then reveal that you (and/or your spouse) are buying bikes at a rate far above what's necessary to remain competitive, without realising you're in the same category, there is irony.....

See, that's only USAT members


If that included me, it would drop down to $125 or $124K maybe, depending on the size of the sample, and rounding


****

When D'Wife & I were first married, we lived in an apartment complex that rented to pro athletes who had just come to Philly, while they were looking for a "real" home

One of my neighbors was Eagles DB Mark McMillian

Not a tall dude, much like myself. He had some friends from the Eagles come over from time to time: Charlie Garner and Vaughn Hebron ... also challenged in the "Must be this tall to ride" category

Anyway, sometimes we four would play basketball at our complex's court. Four guys, average height: 5'7", average salary: $3M ... when I wasn't playing; average salary: $4M

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

This is my neighbor, he has guitars strewn about the house. Some downstairs in the office, some up in the bonus room, random amps so he can play anywhere in the house. But at least with guitars, if you buy right, they CAN maintain their value, or even increase, unlike a bike which is going down only.

As for the bikes, it isn't just rich people, I bought my Madone off a firefighter. Everyone has their hobbies, and you tend to spend your disposable income on things that make you happy. For me, I really enjoy riding good bikes (not great, that doesn't do it). My 9 year old Madone is a BLAST to ride, spirited, quick, light. I don't need a new one, because I like that one. I will happily take a 2-3 year old bike off someone that want's to upgrade to the latest and greatest. I don't need the newest bike to shave the last 2% off my time, I have plenty of low hanging fruit in the engine that needs to be pruned first.

Where are you getting that the average income for a triathlete is in the 6 figures?
But I do agree that there are many other hobbies that are way more expensive that Tri. I came from another hobby of racing drag cars, and let me tell you.... that hobby is expensive as hell.

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- Jordan

My Strava

Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I thought Ironman said the median income of IM athletes was $160k......at the pre race banquets, they'd give info about people who race IM. Now, I know that only involves IM athletes, and not all of triathlon, but I found it interesting (and it counts as a source)

Interesting. I didn't know about that. And 160 is way different than even 100. Crazy

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- Jordan

My Strava

I don't know what average wages are in the US but I do know a lot of folks who make good six figure incomes, performing a variety of jobs:

administrators (for some) medical practices
Nurse practitioners
Physician assistants
Nurse anesthetists
Engineers
Lawyers
Computers (IT, software engineer, etc...)
Insurance agents
Medical device salesman


Notice, I did not mention physicians or CEOs because I wanted to point out more common jobs in the community. So, yes there are a lot of six figure opportunities if you seek them out (choose wisely, career wise)

The only one on that list that surprised me was the nurse practitioner. But sure enough, here in Texas the median is 106k.

Median wage in the US is 30k. Median US household income is 60k. in rough figures.

I’m not saying there isn’t high paid jobs in the community, I’m saying they are most definitely the minority and not typical. For each of those professions you’ve listed there will be many people earning sub 100k in them all. They also tend to work a lot more hours. I’m sure they are far more common in the bigger cities. I’d imagine some very high end salaries are really bumping up that ‘average’ triathlete income.

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@the.lazy.triathlete

https://www.strava.com/athletes/18691068

Well most nurses are now classified as non-exempt, so greater than 40 hours in a week (or 8 hours/day in some states) gets them to an OT rate. Holiday and overnight rate offer another pay differential. It can start to add up rather quickly. Having worked with many clients, and seen many types of wages for many jobs/industries, for me, the most surprising was seeing car mechanics pulling in greater than $150k/year (some closer to $200k)....and this was not work on high-end cars.

I know a lot of nurse practitioners and physician assistants, especially because a lot of them used to be regular RNs before obtaining their advanced degrees. They would talk to me about their job offers so I know there's a good number that make $110-130k/year. Most have very good hours too.

A friend has a brother in law who's a PA for a neurosurgery group. He makes close to $250k per year but he works for it

Several really good friends who work as insurance agents. Takes a while to get established, but once they do, it seems to be a really good gig. Make $100-$200k (or more) and make your own hours. My friends seem to be able to go for a ride or run whenever they like.

The report breaks down the ranges and percentiles.

Income
Average income: $126,000

12.9% have incomes under $50K 14.5% have incomes $50-74,999
16% have incomes $75-$99,999
23.4% have incomes $100-$149,999
12.1% have incomes $150-$199,999
8.4% have incomes $200-$299,999
5.5% have incomes over $300K

Many of the professions he listed have medians WELL above the 100k mark. Nurse practioner was the lowest with a median at 106k, with a range of 98 to 123....in Texas. Also, many of those professions are exempt, and not paid by the hour. So working OT doesn't net any more money.

At the beginning of the report they declare it as median... Above the use the word average. Median is the mid-point where half of the population is less and half is more. It is much less sensative to skew like you describe.

Yes I noticed they switched from median in their summary to average in their main report. They also call it household income so I’m assuming partner salaries are also taken into account, which makes the figure more reasonable. I also didn’t mean overtime bonuses is why they earn more, just that higher end jobs which tend to have more responsibility etc tend to over run the standard 37 hour working week, which doesn’t suit everyone, particularly those who train a lot.

I quickly googled nurse practitioner and the first result says “ The average salary for a Nurse Practitioner is £36,779 per year in the United Kingdom.” So I’m guessing it’s a different position over the water. Not that £37k a year is a bad wage either, maybe it’s a regional thing? I mean I know in Wales where I live an average income of 100k is rare, whether that’s personal or whole household. But triathletes are far from rare here!

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@the.lazy.triathlete

https://www.strava.com/athletes/18691068

Yeah. I have no idea how to compare data across the pond. But the report was published in US stats, and $126k is roughly 80th percentile for household income here. Obviously, things vary pretty widely across the country with the coastal metroplexes being higher than most of the interior.

That's like the example a teacher friend of mine gave in explaining how statistics can be skewed: There's a bar in a working class neighborhood in Seattle, with a few dozen construction workers hanging out drinking. Average annual income is $40k. Then Bill Gates walks in, average annual income is now $1 million...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

Wealthy: enough to buy a personal lap pool

Wise: enough to put a wave dampening system in it

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Worst of the worst are tuning cars, fishing, high end audios and collecting watches.

No one has any opinions nor data on the "wise" part?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

It is also influenced by upbringing and culture. I grew up in austere environment and very uneasy with spending money. Even though I’m very comfortable in upper echelons of the USAT stats quoted above, I cannot make myself spending almost anything. I have an entry level 5-year old carbon frame and also amazed how people with significantly lower incomes and kids spending 3-4x on bikes!!!

But well, I wouldn’t go as far as judging those people. Severe austerity is also unwise. I’ll probably die with a cheap bike and a very large bank account :)

When did median mean mean?

Math seems off - but ok.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney