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Pa. starts signing up medical-pot patients

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Pennsylvania Lottery warns of scammers posing as its employees

<p>So, is that $4,187 in spare cash burning a hole in your pocket?</p><p>That&#8217;s the average &#8220;discretionary income&#8221; for people in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barr/Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to a new analysis by Trove Technologies.</p><p>The rankings put our region at ninth place among 18 MSAs ranked in Pennsylvania. If you want the most discretionary spending money in the Keystone State, move to Stroudsburg. Want the least for some strange reason? Head down to the city of Brotherly Love.</p><p>Trove, which bills itself as &#8220;a site that makes moving and storage simple,&#8221; insists the new study is different because it looked at occupation-specific salary figures, tax rates and cost of living. &#8220;We&#8217;ve gone way beyond your typical &#8216;cost-of-living&#8217; calculator by ranking cities and states for discretionary income,&#8221; co-founder Michael Pao said in an email.</p><p>According to the data, the local MSA has an average salary of $44,525, estimated taxes of $10,012, and basic expenses averaging $30,326, giving the annual discretionary income of $4,187.</p><p>If you have a tally of your own annual expenses for comparison, here&#8217;s the breakdown from their data for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton: $4,210 for groceries, $1,048 for health care, $7,618 for housing, $3,085 for transportation, $3,191 for utilities, and $11,171 for miscellaneous.</p><p>The analysis also offers the top five and bottom five jobs in the MSA, comparing discretionary income nationally for each job. In fact the comparison, rather than the actual income amount, is key in the overall score.</p><p>For example, orderly ranks as one of the top five jobs in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton, even though the data actually shows a negative discretionary income of minus $2,582. That is still better than Las Vegas at minus $3,831 or Flint, Mich., at minus $3,960. In fact, all of the top five cities nationwide for orderlies have negative discretionary income. Scranton has the third best &#8212; or least negative &#8212; rate in the nation.</p><p>The other top four jobs in our area, and their average discretionary income: insurance underwriter, structural metal fabricator/fitter, oil and gas roustabout and budget analyst.</p><p>The bottom five local jobs: Financial analyst, camera operator, photographer, urban and regional planner and operations research analyst.</p><p>Having the highest average discretionary income doesn&#8217;t guarantee the highest score because of the comparative nature of the data, and because other factors are included in the overall score.</p><p>In his email, Pao pointed out that Philadelphia has some of the highest salaries in Pennsylvania, but ranks at the bottom of the scores for state MSAs primarily because housing expenses are 20.4 percent higher than the state average.</p><p>Philadelphia&#8217;s overall score was 20, compared to 41 for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton. East Stroudsburg had the highest score in the state at 63.</p><p>An explanation of methodology points out Honolulu consistently ranked at the bottom, but acknowledged that may simply mean people are willing to give up discretionary income to live in Hawaii, or that it may more difficult to relocate to another state once you live there.</p><p>Pennsylvania&#8217;s overall score was 36, making it the highest ranking among nine Northeastern states. But it ranked 35th nationwide. Michigan was No. 1 nationwide; while Hawaii had the lowest ranking.</p><p>Apparently, perfect weather and stunning scenery come at a price. The report can be accessed at <a href="https://www.mytrove.com/" target="_blank">mytrove.com</a></p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

New ranking says NEPA is fair to middling when it comes to spare income