Denver has been ceaselessly trying to lure millennials with projects like the Regional Transportation District’s rail system and transit-oriented developments. Why? Millennials now outnumber Baby Boomers. Also, Millenials are the most diverse population group.
According to a new analysis by Bloomberg Business, there’s a big problem. Because of skyrocketing home/apartment prices and wage stagnation, millennials are being priced out of urban living and home ownership.
In Bloomberg’s “The 13 Cities Where Millennials Can’t Afford a Home”, Metro Denver is the 12th area where the typical millennial worker doesn’t earn enough to buy a home.
Bloomberg used U.S. Census Bureau, Zillow Group Inc. and Bankrate.com data to calculate the earnings gap (defined as the difference between the median home price and the median millennial salary) in 50 major metros across the country.
The U.S. Census Bureau lists the median annual salary of 18-34 year olds in Denver at $39,492. With the median price of a home in metro Denver standing at over $361,000, the absolute minimum salary required for purchasing a home would be $42,112. That’s a $2,620 earnings gap.
The good news is, the gap is much worse in other cities on the list. Overall, there were 13 metro areas that Bloomberg found as pricing millennials out of the housing market.
San Jose, Calif. (-$80,162 earnings gap)
San Francisco (-$60,975 earnings gap)
Los Angeles (-$45,761 earnings gap)
San Diego (-$36,084 earnings gap)
Sacramento (-6,636 earnings gap)
New York (-$6,550 earnings gap)
Seattle (-$5,778 earnings gap)
Riverside, Calif. (-$5,389 earnings gap)
Washington D.C. (-$5,157 earnings gap)
Boston (-$4,394 earnings gap)
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (-$4,033 earnings gap)
Denver (-$2,620 earnings gap)
Portland (-$1,339 earnings gap)
Be sure to check out and follow us on Tumblr where we blog about these kinds of topics and others that affect our real estate market. Have a question about how to buy or sell a home, contact us today. If you are a Millennial desiring to buy a home, we have some solutions for you.
