Clearly I need a White Collar icon

[gwyn]

Why don't I have one yet? I do not know.

So, a little fact-check about Peter Burke and his money. We discussed this over the weekend at a bash, and I see this come up a lot on my friends list, so I feel the need to be fact-o-girl, as usual. My friends were of the belief that Elizabeth had to come from a little bit of money in order to be able to afford their house in NYC. I didn't necessarily believe that, because Peter's salary is better than they think -- a Fed gets paid a lot more than a regular cop, and I think they were equating Feds with underpaid police officers. I also didn't believe they lived in Manhattan proper.

For a just-starting-out GS-10, they're looking at a base salary of around $51,000. For a guy who's well above that with the experience Peter has, and who's running a white collar unit himself, in NYC, he's looking at well over $101K, and more probably at least $147K. I'd estimate that since he's still in the field, he's possibly a GS-14, because GS-13 is the higher end of field, non-supervisory roles, and he's clearly supervising at least a small team with Jones and Cruz, although that seems to be *very* fuzzy on the details.

This was confirmed in a piece in TV Guide this week by Jeff Eastin about where they live, who said, "Considering the salary he'd have -- around $150,000 a year --and the kind of guy he is, we thought a borough was more suited to him. I think he likes to stretch out his legs at the end of the day."

Eastin said the location of the Burke household is in a Federal style row house in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, which is kind of what I expected with my (admittedly limited) knowledge of NY area nabes, based on what my co-workers used to talk about. He said the locale hasn't been identified to viewers yet, but may come up in future episodes. And when you throw in what El would make as an event planner with the types of high-end clients it sounds like she deals with, you're looking at a fairly decent household income.

They then went on to discuss why Neal's anklet doesn't go off every time he's at their perfectly decorated crib, since there's an 8-mile difference. Eastin explained, "When it's during the workday and he's accounted for, he's allowed to go outside of the radius without getting into trouble... but we might stretch reality just a bit."

Feel free to link to this post if you want to -- checked facts make fact-checking editor girl very happy indeed.

Comments

[sherrold]

Not that you called me out, but to be pedantic: I didn't say she had to come from money for them to own that house, I said her character seemed like someone who had come from money. And then conversation went to the house, yadda, yadda. I think I agree with you -- with her income, they can probably swing it.

Cute ep this week, eh?

[gwyn]

I don't remember who said what specifically, but I do remember at some point someone said that they couldn't afford that house unless she had/was bringing in the money. I called you all "friends" because I was in and out of the room and don't remember who said what. Also, the flist and some of the comms I'm on are definitely... building on misapprehensions about this to the extreme. I know I can't stop it, but the "poor FBI guy living off his wife" is starting to be a trope. Gar.

Even the judge wasn't quite correct about what he earned! Double good income, no kids... they're going to do fine. Maybe they could afford some better photoshopping for their pictures. ;-)

[bientot]

The judge estimated his income at $140K...

And I'm so sorry I can't get to bashes any more because I love this show so much I want to talk about it all the time and my non-fannish friends are starting to avoid me.

[gwyn]

It cracked me up that the judge was talking to him like he was so poor. Um. Yeah.

hey, at least you are going to Escapade! It sounds like it's going to be largely all-White Collar and all-Leverage, all the time, with some Holmes punctuation.

[sakana17]

Thanks for the facts about the GS scales! This fits with what my brother-in-law (or "brother-in-common-law"? since he and my sister aren't actually married?) the Fed was saying, and I know *he* makes something close to $140,000 and isn't in the field.

[gwyn]

Yeah, the nice thing about the govamint is that at least they have clearly defined and public scales. Not that that means Mulder was still able to afford a closet full of Armani suits. ;-)

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the pilot it's established that Peter's house is outside Neal's radius, because Peter gets a call while he's dressing for work and Neal is in his living room.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- that was quite interesting!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I know I can't singlehandedly stomp out misapprehensions, but I want to do my part. I'm seeing it everywhere I look, and I don't want to grind my teeth over this fandom!

[sweet-ali.livejournal.com]

Totally thought it was in Brooklyn. Nice :)

Thanks for all the info!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I know! I was kind of leaning toward either Clinton Hill or Park Slope, just because both of those areas were where nearly all my coworkers lived, except the one rich asshole who lived in Manhattan near Park Ave. Those nabes seemed like they fit Peter and El.

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

A household income of even $250K--at their age, and considering that they would have started out considerably further down the scale--would not be enough to afford a house in subway-accessible Brooklyn, unless they had very good timing, bought it cheap dilapidated some time ago, and put a lot of time and money into renovating. I know many people who make more than that and can't afford to buy in the city.