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New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
How Much Space Does the Median Income Get You?
Most households in America's most populous cities can afford no more than 600 square feet of living space — smaller than the average one-bedroom apartment, according to new research from apartment search website RentCafe and census data. To find what was affordable, The New York Times compared the average rent per square foot in America's most populous cities, as calculated by RentCafe and the market research firm Yardi Matrix, against the most recent household income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Using the common guideline that caps rental affordability at no more than 30 percent of a household's annual income, it showed just how little space urban dwellers can comfortably afford. New York City's most populous boroughs — Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, which were considered individually in the study — were found to restrict residents the most. The average New York City household earns about $77,000 a year, enough to afford about 275 square feet worth of apartment space in Manhattan before reaching the 30 percent income threshold. That household can get 100 additional square feet in Brooklyn, and in Queens it can afford 441 square feet. In Los Angeles (the least affordable place after Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens), the typical household, with a median income of about $80,000, can afford only about 567 square feet of space. Next up was the nation's third largest city, Chicago, where the average household earns about $74,000 a year and can afford a roughly 588-square-foot apartment without breaking the bank. The amount of space that's affordable is simply not enough to accommodate the typical household, which tends to be at least two or three people, according to census data. A one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment is probably most suitable, but according to a separate 2024 RentCafe study, the average sizes of those kinds of apartments have been growing recently, pushing the cost of the space even higher. Tight Squeeze Data from the Census Bureau and RentCafe was used to find how much space was affordable for the typical household in the most populous U.S. cities, based on local rent and income. Maximum affordable apartment size Median household income Maximum affordable monthly rent Place Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Los Angeles Chicago San Diego Philadelphia Dallas Houston San Antonio 275 379 441 567 588 775 818 951 1,015 1,052 sq. ft. $76,577 $76,577 $76,577 $79,701 $74,474 $105,780 $60,302 $70,121 $62,637 $62,322 * * * $1,914 $1,914 $1,914 $1,993 $1,862 $2,645 $1,508 $1,753 $1,566 $1,558 Average annual household income Maximum affordable monthly rent Maximum affordable apartment size Place Manhattan Brooklyn Queens Los Angeles Chicago San Diego Philadelphia Dallas Houston San Antonio 275 379 441 567 588 775 818 951 1,015 1,052 sq. ft. $76,577 $76,577 $76,577 $79,701 $74,474 $105,780 $60,302 $70,121 $62,637 $62,322 * * * $1,914 $1,914 $1,914 $1,993 $1,862 $2,645 $1,508 $1,753 $1,566 $1,558 *Median income for all New York City households Source: RentCafe By The New York Times
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Renters can still get a spacious apartment for $1,500 a month in these 10 cities
But renting can still be a more affordable option for some, especially in places where you can get plenty of space for a price that's less a monthly mortgage payment. Analysis by research firm RentCafe shows that your dollar can still get you a sizable apartment in plenty of places in the US — if you move away from the coasts. "The Midwest and the Southeast have been undersupplied for a long time," Doug Ressler, an analyst at Yardi Matrix, told Business Insider. RentCafe looked at the top 200 US cities based on population and ranked each city by how much square footage a renter could get in a multifamily property with a monthly budget of $1,500. Unsurprisingly, coastal cities like New York, Boston, and San Francisco rank low in square footage on that budget, with average apartment sizes under 400 square feet for all three cities at that price. On the flip side, cities in the middle of the country and a handful in Texas offer spacious apartments on a reasonable budget. But cities down South are losing their edge as the most affordable part of the country. "Affordability is getting eaten up with insurance costs, construction costs, and labor costs," Ressler said. "So what you see is that the affordability gap is narrowing." Here are the 10 cities where your dollar will stretch further as a renter, according to RentCafe. 9. El Paso, TX Searches per week on Zillow: 136,010Median home value in March 2023: $303,383Percentage year-over-year change in median home value: 8.2%City of El Paso population: 676,395Resident review: Among El Paso's fans is one that wrote on Niche "I love this city so much because of the diversity. El Paso has a very diverse culture. I also feel El Paso is a very safe city compared to others of its size." 8. Baton Rouge, LA Apartment size for $1,500: 1,138 square feetMonthly rent: $1,256Average apartment size: 953 square feet 7. Fort Wayne, IN Another pair of neighbors join the list — Indiana and Kentucky, clocking in with remarkably similar prices and living costs. 4. Tulsa, OK Tulsa has become a popular destination for workers freed from the constraints of in-office work thanks to the city's Tulsa Remote program, which offers transplants a $10,000 grant to start a new life there. Tulsa has a cost of living that comes in 23% below the national average, according to MakeMy Move, as well as a vibrant arts and culinary scene. The average household in America spends $61,334 a year on various expenses, more than a third of which typically goes to housing, according to the World Population Review. 3. Oklahoma City, OK Exports as a % of GDP: 2.9% 2. Toledo, OH Apartment size for $1,500: 1,268 square feetMonthly rent: $957Average apartment size: 809 square feet 1. Wichita, KS Healthcare cost in Kansas are lower than the average among the top 10 long $1 million will last in savings: 21 years, 11 months, and 19 daysRetiree's cost of living here for one year: $45,519Annual groceries cost: $4,240Annual housing cost: $7,478Annual healthcare cost: $7,107
San Francisco Chronicle
27-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Bay Area suburbs where renters are taking over the market
For decades, the path from renter to homeowner in America looked like this: You rent in a big city when you're just starting out, then once you've settled into your career and personal life, you buy a house in the suburbs. But high home prices combined with 30-year mortgage rates stubbornly stuck in the sixes have kept home ownership out of reach for many for the past few years, especially in the Bay Area. A new study from Point2Homes shows that renter households now outnumber homeowners in more than 200 metropolitan suburbs nationwide. Point2Homes provided the Chronicle with data on the share of renters in the smaller cities around the San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont metropolitan area (the data excludes San Jose and most of the South Bay, which are considered a separate metro). In 24 of the 54 cities analyzed, the percentage of the population that rents is rising. In seven of them, renters now represent larger shares of the population than homeowners. The trend is accelerating at an even faster rate on the East Coast, said Doug Ressler, the manager of business intelligence for data acquisition firm Yardi Matrix, who worked on the data cited in the Points2Homes study. Both companies are owned by Santa Barbara-based real estate software company Yardi Systems. In 15 metropolitan areas, suburban cities transitioned from majority-owner to majority-renter between 2018 and 2023; in another 15, the number of renter households more than doubled. In the Dallas, Minneapolis, Boston, Tampa and Baltimore areas, the suburbs gained renters faster than the big cities they surround. But that's not quite what's happening in the Bay Area. All the cities that are renter-majority as of 2023 in the San Francisco area were already that way in 2018. Of the 54 cities analyzed, the share of renters dropped in 30 of them, though in some of them not by a statistically significant amount. Taken together, the 54 cities experienced a modest net 1.9% increase in renter household growth during that period. The reason we're not seeing the same explosion in renting that some cities on the East Coast are is the same as the explanation for many of the Bay Area's problems: It's hard to build housing here. 'We don't build enough housing compared to the wealth and jobs we create,' said Matt Regan, senior vice president of policy for the Bay Area Council, a pro-housing advocacy group. The urban cores themselves 'make it ridiculously hard to build,' he said, which leads developers to look for opportunities in suburbs and exurbs. But even in smaller cities and suburban areas, Regan said, many local governments have determined that the right place to build more homes and apartments is 'somewhere else.' 'The Bay Area has been ground zero for 'not in my backyard,'' said Jeff Ostrowski, a housing market analyst for Bankrate. A combination of growth restrictions, lack of land and income growth have created what he called the 'perfect storm for an explosion of property prices.' As housing prices have risen, the age of the average first-time homebuyer in the U.S. has increased, meaning people are renting for longer. The median first-time homebuyer is now 38 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors. The years 2018 to 2023 are an interesting period for studying housing trends in America. The COVID-19 pandemic created a drastic shift: Rents rose, mortgage rates hit rock bottom, and remote work vaporized commutes. California's population declined by more than half a million people from April 2020 to July 2022, though it's bounced back since then. COVID played a dual role: Some people left because a fully remote job meant they could live somewhere more affordable. And the polarization of pandemic restrictions and vaccine policies drove some people to search for alternative political climates. Some workers who were given free rein to move to Texas or Idaho found themselves recalled by return-to-office policies. But even now, many offices in the Bay Area have only partial RTO: Office visits are down 44.6% in San Francisco this year compared with 2019, according to a study from location data analysis firm That makes the suburbs a more appealing place to live, Regan said. Only needing to drive to the office two or three days a week instead of five makes an onerous commute slightly less daunting. So there's interest in more housing in the suburbs — but challenges to build it. Regan said California's condo defect liability laws dissuade developers from building a type of housing that was traditionally a solid first rung on the property ladder. Many cities are out of space to build single-family homes. That leaves apartment buildings, which can be appealing to developers given the region's high incomes and high demand, but often face planning and permitting issues and anti-renter sentiment from homeowners. A standout on the list of cities with a high renter share is Emeryville. The share of renters increased by 28% from 2018 to 2023, with the city adding more than 1,100 renter households. Cities that have seen more renter growth tend to have certain things in common, said Ressler of Point2Homes. They're usually situated close to transit; have social amenities such as parks, community centers and museums; have less expensive land compared with the urban areas; and have local governments that are amenable to housing development. Regan said Emeryville's government has embraced housing growth alongside job growth from companies such as Pixar and commercial growth from major retailers including IKEA. Emeryville has 'been willing to accept that with economic growth comes a demand for housing, and they have built a commensurate amount of new housing units to accommodate their economic growth,' Regan said. 'Most cities in our region are happy to take the jobs and then increase their tax base, but have traditionally not been willing to build the housing.'
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The colleges with the strongest preleasing for student housing
This story was originally published on Multifamily Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Multifamily Dive newsletter. Preleasing for the 2025-2026 school year is trending above last year, rising 1.5% from May 2024 up to 79.9% in May 2025, according to Yardi Matrix's latest Student Housing Report. While national figures may be revised later as more data becomes available, the May 2025 preleasing rate is even with the May 2024 rate as initially reported. Out of the 200 universities in Yardi's data set, student properties at 30 of them were over 90% preleased as of May, and 17 were over 95% preleased. Seventeen schools were less than 60% preleased, most of them are located in smaller student housing markets. The University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati had the strongest year-over-year growth in preleasing, up 22.5% from last year. The average advertised rate per bed for the schools in Yardi's data set was $918 in May — unchanged from the previous month, and just below the $919 record high set in March, according to the report. Annual rent growth has declined in recent months, down to 2.1% in May, the lowest rate recorded since July 2021. University Off-campus student housing beds Beds preleased (as of May) Rent per bed (as of May) 14,583 98.6% $772 12,900 96.8% $965 9,398 96.3% $1,006 7,132 94.0% $893 9,076 93.7% $1,347 16,522 90.1% $991 13,044 89.2% $946 23,999 88.0% $1,272 10,343 87.8% $1,059 17,150 87.8% $1,049 SOURCE: Yardi Matrix Average rent growth for fall 2025 stands at 3.4%, down from 5.8% for the fall 2024 leasing season and 7.0% for fall 2023. Sixty-two universities reported higher rent growth than last year, while 133 reported a slowdown over the same period. Fifty-nine markets reported negative rent growth over the past year, according to the report. While average enrollment growth rose to 1.8% at U.S. colleges and universities in fall 2024, several headwinds may threaten future student housing growth, according to Yardi. High school graduate numbers are expected to have peaked this year, policy changes have affected higher education funding and increased visa scrutiny may affect international student enrollment at U.S. universities. 'A decline in international students could hinder enrollment growth and reduce demand for off-campus housing, where these students often represent a significant share,' the report reads. 'While many affected schools are smaller private institutions, large public universities … enroll thousands of international students and may also feel the impact.' Thirty-six dedicated student housing properties have sold so far this year, keeping on pace with 2024's investment rate, according to the report. The average sales price per bed was $88,467, down from $105,252 last year at this time. The report's authors noted that there have been no major portfolio trades, which often push pricing higher. Recommended Reading Market volatility requires proactive financial strategies Sign in to access your portfolio
The Hill
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Republican bailout for blue cities? The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit trap, explained
The Republican Party's much-touted 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' includes a $14 billion bailout for some of America's worst-run cities, all thanks to the proposed expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Doing so would funnel billions more into a program that props up a fundamentally broken housing system without adding the new supply desperately needed to solve the housing crisis. Consider the staggering costs: The average unit covered by this credit costs taxpayers $450,000; in California, it routinely exceeds $1 million per unit. Yet because credit funds are largely allocated to the states based on population, the program attracts bipartisan support. This subsidy is unnecessary for two key reasons. First, in most markets, the private sector already provides affordable housing without taxpayer help. Yardi Matrix data show that in roughly three-quarters of 164 markets studied, market-rate multifamily rents are highly or moderately competitive with so-called affordable, subsidized rents. This proves that the market alone can meet housing needs, when it is allowed to function. Second, where affordability truly lags, the culprit isn't a market failure but a policy failure. The worst affordability crises are in markets in the usual uber-regulated blue states: California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maine and Pennsylvania. In these places, restrictive zoning and excessive regulations choke new supply, pushing rents out of reach. Tellingly, Democrats run nearly all of these non-competitive markets. Some claim expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could produce 200,000 new 'affordable' units annually. That's a fantasy. Credible research shows the credit does little to add net new supply: Nearly half of its projects are rehabs of existing units, which don't increase the housing stock, while many new developments built with the credit simply crowd out unsubsidized private construction. The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit problems go beyond cost and crowding out. The program's complexity, which runs thousands of pages, enriches lawyers and consultants, not renters. Corruption thrives under minimal federal oversight, as highlighted in a 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office. And a cartel of nonprofits and specialized developers profits handsomely by mastering its bureaucracy, stifling competition and innovation. These issues exemplify the Five Cs that make the credit fundamentally flawed: cost, crowding out, complexity, corruption and cartel. The root cause of housing unaffordability is a lack of supply, created by local regulations that make land scarce and building prohibitively expensive. No subsidy can fix that. Rather than expanding tax credits and entrenching failed policies, Congress should send a clear message to states and cities by defunding this credit. Doing so would redirect efforts toward fixing zoning, freeing the market, and allowing housing supply to meet demand. Meaningful reforms by states and localities are straightforward. First, legalize smaller lots in new subdivisions so builders can construct starter homes. Second, allow existing single-family lots to be subdivided for more cost-effective townhomes, duplexes and triplexes. Third, rezone commercial and industrial land for mixed-use residential development. Fourth, keep regulations simple, short, and clear instead of micromanaging the building process. This approach empowers builders to meet demand, as cities like Houston, Minneapolis, Dallas, Urban Philadelphia, Austin and Seattle show, where deliberate policy choices to allow more construction have kept market rents competitive with subsidized units. Encouragingly, more states and localities are moving in the right direction. Florida, which is facing severe rental affordability challenges in its southern markets, already passed the Live Local Act in 2023 through the Republican legislature, unleashing new market-rate supply in previously tight markets — proof that local reform, not federal bailouts, is the key. And just last month, Texas passed a series of pro-housing bills, following the lead of California, Montana, Oregon and others. It's time for policymakers to abandon the myth that subsidies solve housing shortages and provide affordability. The only real solution is more housing, built by a private sector freed from regulatory shackles. Tobias Peter and Edward Pinto are co-directors of the American Enterprise Institute's Housing Center.
