I am from Gregory Michigan, the town about 20 miles east form me is Leslie Michigan. The household income rate for both towns is similar but a difference. Gregory has an average income of $36,000 whereas Leslie is at $31,000 a year. While children probably grew up relatively similar, they and from personally knowing the areas it does not feel like you’re driving into a different tax bracket or social class it all looks and feels the same. A household income of 31-35 thousand does not seem like a lot of money. My parents do not inform me of $ amounts so I don’t know how much my family’s household income is, but I know it’s more than 35,000. When I worked at Old Navy after high school, one year I made roughly 20,000, that’s from a full-time worker/full time college student…… the cost of living needs to go down and wages need to go up. 31-35 thousand household income does not reflect in what the areas look like, they look higher in value.
I do know that my parents bought our land in 2000 and built our home on that land and again costs have never been shared with me, but my parents say that they wouldn’t even look at this property for what the asking price would be, we have 26.5 acers that’s so beautiful but worth way too much money for this economy and what it offers. The incarceration rate is less than 1% in both towns, that checks out and makes sense to me. I like out in a farm town and the surrounding towns are a similar vibe we are just a little more hick ha-ha, but rednecks can do crazy things, but they aren’t really illegal, or people live so far out, and neighbors are a small drive down so police never really get called, everything is contained and controlled. The fire department gets called more because when rednecks drink and gather they like to light stuff on fire like fireworks, a massive bonfire, just random things.
Teenage births on the other hand do and don’t surprise me. When I think of the actual ages that the people I have heard of and know had a baby they had just beaten teen pregnancy, a lot of people will get pregnant around 19/20, it’s a small town so if you don’t leave after graduation then you kind of need to figure it out because you are stuck there. A lot of people get stuck there, marry their high school sweetheart, and are currently having babies. It’s funny because there’s this one friend group that graduated, everybody stayed, didn’t get out, and now they are having baby after baby after baby, I sometimes wonder if they feel like they’re falling behind and since they’re already married, they do not care that they are 20 having a baby.
Personally I want to travel and enjoy what the world has to offer before I give up my every waking second to care for a literal human. You can’t just pack you your baby and jet off somewhere or even take a day trip without help saving up for it, planning, and lots of patience, soon they will figure out what they are missing out on. I hope they don’t regret anything because I’m sure those cute babies bring them so much joy, but it cuts life off early for younger people in my opinion.
