What your car says about you?

So I'm 23 and only make about half of that salary. I bought the car because it's interesting and cool!!

Based on the age and salary, my guess is the guy who is wrote the summary multiplied by 2 before typing the numbers.

 

Technically, you're absolutely correct.

I'm not sure that Toyota was trying to provide clarity by using the median to imply that the incomes of Prius owners represent a very skewed data set (and that hence the median is substantially different from the arithmetic mean.) From the point of view of statistics, that would be point of using the median instead of the arithmetic mean. While correct, me thinks that to be a tad obtuse for general consumption.

While I don't know for sure, I would tend to think that this data has a reasonably normal distribution and that given that the set is reasonably large, the median and the arithmetic mean should be at least similar; say plus or minus one SD.

If the alternate is true (i.e. the data is that skewed) or one SD is that large, then this is a far more interesting number than anyone has ever let on in other contexts of owner demographics.

 

Then again, it could be that the journalist didn't know the difference either and really meant "average", but "median" sounded better.

Probably most baby boomers that are making an "average" of 95K are (1) more educated, (2) have been employed long enough to be on the upper end of their salary scale, (3) remember the gas lines of the 70's (and don't want to go through that again), (4) have children who they love very much and want them to inherit a cleaner environment and a country that is less dependent on foreign oil.

 

Trendsetter? Wth? Are they pulling the Apple iTrend card now?

 

i'm 24.. if i'm lucky i make a quarter of that. i live at home, work.. no school.

 

What - Cars are talikng now ? Better be nice to your Prius, or it will Dis you to the Diesel Jetta in the next lane over !