'Welcome to Plathville' is fascinating to viewers. Like other famously large families, the Plaths are very different from the typical, mainstream American (and other places in the world!) family.
Kim and Barry have nine children and apparently live in a remote area on a huge farm. The family shies away from technology and junk food, among other modern conventions. And yet it appears that they are somehow able to support all their kids without a paycheck from a reality show.
But fans wonder what it is the parents do to be able to afford such a large family. Do the parents commute hours away for their jobs? Does Kim even work?
Fans also query whether the Plaths have a similar net worth to another large reality TV family (Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald have a surprising net worth). Or perhaps they were barely scraping by and turned to TLC to make ends meet?
The truth is that both the Plaths have careers. Or, at least, they did.
Woman's Day says that Barry "has a job working as a transportation planner for a private firm where he's worked for 25 years." The job title can involve a range of duties, so there's no telling exactly what Barry does day-to-day.
But the average salary for such a role ranges from the low $30Ks up to $100K or more. And after 25 years, it's safe to assume Barry has had quite a few raises. In short, it's entirely possible that Barry's got some significant savings — and plenty of cash to support his large family.
Of course, he really doesn't need a full-time income. That is, he didn't until recently. YourTango says that Kim is a "naturopathic doctor" and that she apparently saw patients out of her home office.
Though there aren't any hard facts to back up the claims YourTango made on behalf of Kim, if it's true that she's a medical practitioner, that probably made the family a decent income. Doctors tend to make bank, after all.
But for now, Kim's website is down, highlights YourTango, so it's tough to tell precisely what kind of medicine (non-medicine?) she practiced. Plus, not all practitioners have to have a degree, depending on what they're claiming to practice and where.
In reality, though, since Kim's still homeschooling her six younger kids, she's probably busy enough without juggling client appointments. Parents know the struggle of distance learning while trying to work remotely, so homeschooling kids while working out of the house can't be easy, either.
Besides, the family is making some amount of income from their time on TV, and the series isn't the most bizarre one TLC's ever done. So the Plaths may no longer need day jobs one day soon!
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