Seattle Makes another Top 10 List

Seattle made another top 10 list this week. Unfortunately, it was the Forbes list of Top 10 Least Affordable Cities. According to the Forbes article,

"A lot of it has to do with regulations and zoning," says Robert Bruegmann,
a history and urban planning professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"The higher cost of doing business--and the uncertainly of business--in places
like California drives up home prices. The cost of building isn't that different
in Houston versus Los Angeles, yet L.A. prices are so much higher. ... One of
the few variables you can look at is regulatory burden."

...Unaffordability is also relative. Few residents of Sacramento,
Calif., and Seattle can afford homes in the areas, but property there is still reasonable by regional standards. Both cities are experiencing strong growth and immigration patterns, in large part due to the fact that they're less costly than West Coast cities like San Francisco, San Diego or Los Angeles...

Forbes' criteria for unaffordability is what percentage homes recently sold would be affordable to a family earning the median family income. Here's how Seattle stacked up:

Median household income: $67,870
Recent affordable home sales: 22.6%
Price-to-income affordability: Eighth worst

The news is not all doom and gloom however, as Seattle also recently made Forbes' list of Best Cities for Young Professionals, ranking 7th, based on ability to attract and retain graduates from top universities nationwide. Our strong hiring market and relatively low cost of living as compared to other similar cities (think New York, LA and San Francisco) still make this area one of the best choices for career-oriented young people.

The best take-away from this is that if you are considering a move to the Seattle area, your best course of action is to take housing prices into account when negotiating your salary. For those moving here from San Francisco and other areas in California, housing prices here will probably seem refreshingly low, but if you're moving here from the Midwest or Mountain States, plan to spend at least 10% more of your annual income on housing, and negotiate for salary accordingly.