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The Most (and Least) Affordable Counties for Millenials to Buy and Rent

Scott Trench
1 min read
The Most (and Least) Affordable Counties for Millenials to Buy and Rent

How much of your income do you spend on housing? For millenials in San Francisco or New York City, it looks like spending more than three quarters of your take home pay on home payments might be par for the course.

RealtyTrac just released a list of the most and least affordable counties for millienials (those of us born from 1977 to 1992) to buy and to rent.

While there are affordable and expensive counties throughout the country, multiple counties in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are some of the Least Affordable places to buy AND to rent. Counties in the Southeast and Midwest that top the Most Affordable lists might not be quite as happening as NYC or San Fran, but millenials there are spending less than a quarter of their income on rent.

The study looks at counties with a population of 100,000 or more where millenials comprise at least 24 percent of the total population (the national average is 22%). RealtyTrac estimated the 2014 median household income for applicable counties and contrasted that with median home payments and average rents.

The #1 Most Affordable Housing Markets for Millenials

Richmond County, GA, (encompassing Augusta, GA) tops the list of most affordable counties to buy a home, while Bossier Parish (home to Shreveport, LA) is the most affordable county to rent.

The #1 Least Affordable Housing Markets for Millenials

San Francisco County, CA is the least affordable county to buy in, closely followed by three New York City counties. Bronx County, NY tops the list of least affordable counties for renters.

Related: How to “Hack” Your Housing and Get Paid to Live for Free

The results of this study are helpful in understanding how millenials choose to spend their money on housing in various areas around the country. This data should not be used as an investor’s primary source of information when choosing an area to invest in.

Most Affordable & Least Affordable Housing Markets for Millennials - darenjblomquist | Tableau Public-1

Most Affordable & Least Affordable Housing Markets for Millennials - darenjblomquist | Tableau Public

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.