Economy
Blue-Collar and Service Workers Fare Better Outside Superstar Cities
How much money do workers have after paying housing costs? For working-class and service workers in superstar cities, the affordable housing crisis hits harder.
America suffers from a deep and worsening housing crisis, especially in the nation’s superstar cities. It would take the average worker in the Bay Area—a place that is flush with rich venture capitalists and highly paid tech workers—more than a decade of wages and income to afford the median home price. That’s more than four times the typical benchmark of 2.6 years of salary for housing affordability.
While much has been made of the housing struggles of middle-class and professional families in expensive cities, the housing affordability crisis hits much harder for the nation’s low-paid blue-collar workers.