A group of Gen Z Americans have shocked social media users after they were asked how much the average citizen earns – with their “tone deaf” answers sparking outrage.
Popular TikTok creator Jessica Palmadessa posted a video of her asking teenagers in Beverly Hills how much they think the average American makes in a year.
For reference, the video stated the average American brought home just over $54,000, however, 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the annual mean wage is $61,900.
The first Gen Zer that was asked said the average income was “maybe like $400k to $450k”.
The next person thought it could be even higher than that.
“I don’t know, maybe like half a million,” he said.
Another person guessed between $200,000 and $250,000 a year, with the closest guess being $90,000 to $100,000.
The video has been viewed more than 1.6 million times since being posted earlier this month, racking up thousands of comments from people in disbelief at the answers from the teens.
“Are they really this uninformed? It’s not just out of touch it’s like basic information,” one person asked.
“INSANE guesses holy moly, these kids are super out of touch,” another said.
Others branded the answers “tone deaf”, “horrifying” and “clueless”.
“These people are delusional,” another said, with another commenter adding: “Spoiled children have no concept of anything.”
However, there were those that came to the defense of the Gen Zer’s in the video, with people claiming youngsters without full-time jobs can’t be expected to know how much the average person earns.
“These people clearly don’t work so they don’t know,” one person said.
Another pointed out that Los Angeles is a lot more expensive than other places in the US, so that could also be skewing their answers.
One person said teens who grow up in wealthy areas likely have “completely different perspectives” from those living in lower socio-economic regions.
“I grew up working poor but my kids are not. So they would say an absurdly high amount,” they said.
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