Socioeconomic Status Measurement Considering Psychological Resistance to Response: Exploration of Variables Strongly Correlated with Household Income

Annual income, a commonly used indicator of socioeconomic status (SES), often exhibits high non-response rates because respondents are likely to be psychologically reluctant to answer. This study examined variables strongly associated with household income to explore alternative indicators. Four large-scale online surveys were conducted to collect academic history, annual household income, subjective hierarchy, and estimated vocabulary. A total of 38,340 individuals aged 20 to 59 were included in the analysis. The meta-analysis of our four surveys revealed that household income was positively correlated with the other three variables, with subjective hierarchy showing the strongest correlation.