Just in time for prime time on Christmas Eve, Kevin single-handedly stops the two crooks who want to break into his family’s house. Since it was first broadcast in 1990, “Home Alone” has been one of the most popular Christmas films in Germany. Many fans ask themselves every year: How much money do the McCallisters have to live in such a villa with five children? The New York Times asked the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, about this.
The house provides information about the family’s income. The villa that was used for the exterior shots in the film actually exists. It is located in the posh Chicago suburb of Winnetka at 671 Lincoln Avenue. According to the real estate website “Realtor.com”, the residential area is one of the most expensive in the United States. The median price of a property there is $1.6 million.
According to economists at the US Federal Reserve, such a property would put the McCallisters among the richest one percent – both in 1990 and today. In addition to the expensive neighborhood, the two-story villa offers plenty of space. At least five children and numerous visitors appear to have had no problem staying there before the family’s trip to Paris.
In their calculations for the “NYT,” the economists based their calculations on data such as household income, taxes, mortgages and insurance. They determined that the family would have had to have earned at least 305,000 US dollars (around 277,000 euros) annually in order to be able to afford such a house. With the data from 2022, the minimum income would have to be almost twice as high: 665,000 US dollars (around 603,000 euros).
How the family of seven can afford this is not really explained in the film. In author Todd Strasser’s books on which the films are based, Mama Kate is a fashion designer. This is where the mannequins come from, which Kevin uses to make the two crooks believe that the house is full. Papa Peter is a businessman without further definition. Asked for clarification by the New York Times, Strasser says that for him the family was “upper middle class”: “I don’t know how much the McCallisters earned, but it was definitely a lot for my bank account “.
Quelle: Realtor, “New York Times”
