According to the San Jose Mercury News, the top three most expensive places for renters in the entire nation are in the Bay Area. We knew it was bad, but this is a whole new level of shocking. In that article, the author writes that with San Jose’s $13.50/hour minimum wage, a person would have to have more than 3 1/2 minimum wage jobs just to afford average rent. Crazy!
To nobody’s surprise, the San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland areas were top three in the nation, but the East Bay isn’t much better off. You’d have to earn $93,000 per year to afford average rent in the East Bay. Given the costs of pretty much everything around here rising, it’s no surprise.
In the real estate market – whether buying, selling, or renting – you have to expect to pay a premium in the Bay Area these days. That’s where people like me come in handy! We can give you expert advice and help steer you in the right direction. Remember, the most expensive direction isn’t always the correct one.
Here are a few more interesting tidbits from the article:
- 2-bedroom apartments in the South Bay will require you to make about a $50/hour
- In San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties, it’s closer to $60/hour
- This is a national issue: there is no state, metro area, or county in the U.S. where workers earning minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom rental home by working 40 hours per week
- Five years ago, about 3,000 people came to the Community Services Agency for food – it’s now over 7,000.