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- Luxury watches and private yachts are obvious status symbols, but there are so many other subtle, and in some cases, particularly odd, ways to flaunt wealth.
- In some US cities, you may be able to decipher a person's social position by the size of their family, the animals in their backyard, and even how many digits are on their license plate.
People have found obscure ways to flaunt their social position for centuries.
Before sports cars and luxury gym memberships came along, Americans demonstrated their wealth by snapping selfies, although not the kind we take today. Shortly after the X-ray was invented in 1895, the rich couldn't wait to snag a radiographic machine of their own. They would snap photos of their jewelry-clad bones with at-home X-ray machines they scored from the black market.
And while the days of smuggling X-ray machines are long gone, Americans now try to impress each other in different ways: by always having the newest iPhone, wearing the most expensive watch, or exclusively sporting Lululemon to spin class. But more unexpected status symbols abound in the US.
Here are seven ways Americans around the country show their social status: