{"id":73113,"date":"2021-08-31T05:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T12:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/?p=73113"},"modified":"2021-08-30T16:12:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T23:12:45","slug":"teacher-housing-affordability-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redfin.com\/news\/teacher-housing-affordability-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"The Five Most Affordable Places for Teachers to Buy a Home Are All in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merced, CA\u2014an agricultural hub hit hard by the Great Recession\u2014topped the list of U.S. metro areas where teachers had relatively high disposable incomes in 2020. Another California metro, San Jose, was the least affordable place for teachers to buy homes.<\/span><\/i><\/h3>\n

The five most affordable areas for teachers to purchase homes in 2020 were all located in inland California.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to a Redfin analysis of median disposable incomes for teachers in the 157 U.S. metropolitan areas where there was sufficient income data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and sufficient housing-cost data from Redfin and other sources. Disposable income is the annual income a person has left after covering their yearly housing costs. Scroll down to the bottom of this report to read more about our methodology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five Most Affordable Metros for Teachers to Buy Homes In 2020<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Metro Area<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Disposable Income for Teachers Who Own Homes<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Teacher Salary<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Annual Homeownership Cost<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Home Sale Price<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Merced, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$64,586<\/span><\/td>\n$99,637<\/span><\/td>\n$35,051<\/span><\/td>\n$277,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fresno, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$54,510<\/span><\/td>\n$89,170<\/span><\/td>\n$34,659<\/span><\/td>\n$275,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Riverside, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$51,105<\/span><\/td>\n$91,220<\/span><\/td>\n$40,115<\/span><\/td>\n$350,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Modesto, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$50,950<\/span><\/td>\n$88,899<\/span><\/td>\n$37,949<\/span><\/td>\n$335,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bakersfield, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$50,931<\/span><\/td>\n$87,710<\/span><\/td>\n$36,779<\/span><\/td>\n$238,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

In Merced, CA, the median teacher salary was $99,637 last year, while the median annual homeownership cost was $35,051. That means teachers there had a median disposable income of $64,586\u2014the highest among the 157 metros in this analysis. Next came Fresno, with a median disposable income of $54,510, followed by Riverside ($51,105), Modesto ($50,950) and Bakersfield ($50,931).<\/span><\/p>\n

Merced<\/a> is a city (within the Merced metro) of about 90,000 people in central California, roughly two-and-a-half hours east of San Jose and two hours west of Yosemite National Park. The area is home to the University of California\u2019s newest campus, UC Merced, and is one of the state\u2019s top agricultural producers. During the Great Recession, Merced experienced one of the most severe <\/span>drops<\/span><\/a> in home prices in the country, rendering it a more affordable place to live than many other parts of California.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMerced\u2019s affordability also comes from its distance to big cities. People travel up to an hour for fine dining, shopping and sometimes work,\u201d said Debbie Engel, a Keller Williams real estate agent and Redfin partner agent. \u201cStill, Merced has been getting more expensive every year and real estate demand continues to peak. That\u2019s largely due to the presence of UC Merced and the area\u2019s affordability relative to other major California metros.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Teachers Who Rent, Inland California Is Also Relatively Affordable<\/span><\/h3>\n

Merced also topped the list of metros where it was most affordable for teachers to <\/span>rent <\/span><\/i>housing in 2020. With a median annual rental cost of $31,635 and a median teacher salary of $99,637, teachers who rented homes in Merced had a median disposable income of $68,002 last year. The median teacher salary in Merced was higher than that of any other metro in this analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next came Bend, OR, with a median disposable income of $60,192 for teachers who rented. Bend<\/a> has exploded in popularity in recent years as city-dwellers have <\/span>moved<\/span><\/a> there in search of relative affordability and access to nature\u2014a dynamic that has caused home prices to surge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rounding out the top five were Fresno, Modesto and Bakersfield, which also ranked on the top-five list of metros where it was most affordable for teachers to purchase homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five Most Affordable Metros for Teachers to Rent Homes In 2020<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Metro Area<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Disposable Income for Teachers Who Rent Homes<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Teacher Salary<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Annual Rental Cost\u00a0<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Monthly Rental Cost<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Merced, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$68,002<\/span><\/td>\n$99,637<\/span><\/td>\n$31,635<\/span><\/td>\n$2,636<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bend, OR<\/span><\/td>\n$60,192<\/span><\/td>\n$90,700<\/span><\/td>\n$30,508<\/span><\/td>\n$2,542<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fresno, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$57,211<\/span><\/td>\n$89,170<\/span><\/td>\n$31,959<\/span><\/td>\n$2,663<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Modesto, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$56,007<\/span><\/td>\n$88,899<\/span><\/td>\n$32,891<\/span><\/td>\n$2,741<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bakersfield, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$55,103<\/span><\/td>\n$87,710<\/span><\/td>\n$32,607<\/span><\/td>\n$2,717<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

San Jose Is the Least Affordable Metro for Teachers to Purchase Homes<\/span><\/h3>\n

In San Jose, CA, the median teacher salary in 2020 was $90,314, while the median annual homeownership cost was $87,612. That left teachers with a median disposable income of just $2,703\u2014the lowest among the 157 metros in this analysis. Next came Kahului, HI, with a median disposable income of $5,038, followed by St. George, UT ($6,560), Salinas, CA ($7,002) and Flagstaff, AZ ($8,388).<\/span><\/p>\n

San Jose<\/a> has long been one of the most expensive places to live in the country, offering no respite for house hunters looking to escape nearby San Francisco\u2019s sky-high prices. The city, which is the tenth-most populous in the U.S., is in the heart of Silicon Valley. It\u2019s home to scores of high-income tech workers, along with the headquarters of major companies including Adobe, PayPal and Zoom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSan Jose is expensive and those prices are going to keep on climbing. That\u2019s because housing demand is far outpacing supply,\u201d said local Redfin real estate agent<\/span> Robert Garcia<\/span><\/a> \u201cLand is so scarce that there won\u2019t be many new affordable residential building projects in the near future. If anything is going to change, it will have to come from raising teacher salaries on a policy level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One San Jose school district, which has grappled with teacher turnover due to high housing costs, has <\/span>proposed<\/span><\/a> building affordable rental housing for local teachers on school property\u2014a plan that has drawn some <\/span>backlash<\/span><\/a>. In other pricey parts of California, government agencies are <\/span>buying up<\/span><\/a> luxury properties and offering reduced rents to accommodate middle-income workers, including teachers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five Least Affordable Metros for Teachers to Buy Homes In 2020<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Metro Area<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Disposable Income for Teachers Who Own Homes<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Teacher Salary<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Annual Homeownership Cost<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Home Sale Price<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
San Jose, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$2,703<\/span><\/td>\n$90,314<\/span><\/td>\n$87,612<\/span><\/td>\n$1,195,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kahului, HI<\/span><\/td>\n$5,038<\/span><\/td>\n$62,607<\/span><\/td>\n$57,569<\/span><\/td>\n$756,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
St. George, UT<\/span><\/td>\n$6,560<\/span><\/td>\n$42,680<\/span><\/td>\n$36,120<\/span><\/td>\n$330,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Salinas, CA<\/span><\/td>\n$7,002<\/span><\/td>\n$63,680<\/span><\/td>\n$56,678<\/span><\/td>\n$675,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Flagstaff, AZ<\/span><\/td>\n$8,388<\/span><\/td>\n$47,329<\/span><\/td>\n$38,941<\/span><\/td>\n$412,000<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

St. George, UT Is the Least Affordable Metro for Teachers to Rent Homes<\/span><\/h3>\n

The median teacher salary in St. George, UT\u2014a desert city in the southwestern corner of the state\u2014was $42,680 last year, while the median annual rental cost was $32,144. That translates to a median disposable income of $10,536\u2014the lowest among all metros in Redfin\u2019s analysis. It was followed by Sierra Vista, AZ, with a median disposable income of $15,390, Twin Falls, ID ($17,319), <\/span>Palm Bay, FL (<\/span>$17,939<\/span>) and Jackson, MS (<\/span>$18,202).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Palm Bay metro area is a large region on Florida\u2019s east coast, midway between Jacksonville and Miami. It overlaps with Brevard County<\/a>, which is home to Cape Canaveral\u2014the launch location for many U.S. space missions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Palm Bay<\/a> itself isn\u2019t actually that pricey, but there are a handful of real estate hotspots within the larger metro area that raise the median home price in the region,\u201d said local Redfin real estate agent<\/span> Michael Moore<\/span><\/a>. \u201cOne of those hotspots is Melbourne Beach\u2014a town on a barrier island with luxury mansions overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and\/or intracoastal waterways. Many areas farther north in Melbourne have also become more expensive due to their proximity to defense contractors and Cape Canaveral, which employ many people in the area.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Five Least Affordable Metros for Teachers to Rent Homes In 2020<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Metro Area<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Disposable Income for Teachers Who Rent Homes<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Teacher Salary<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Annual Rental Cost\u00a0<\/b><\/td>\nMedian Monthly Rental Cost<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
St. George, UT<\/span><\/td>\n$10,536<\/span><\/td>\n$42,680<\/span><\/td>\n$32,144<\/span><\/td>\n$2,679<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sierra Vista, AZ<\/span><\/td>\n$15,390<\/span><\/td>\n$40,986<\/span><\/td>\n$25,596<\/span><\/td>\n$2,133<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Twin Falls, ID<\/span><\/td>\n$17,319<\/span><\/td>\n$45,040<\/span><\/td>\n$27,721<\/span><\/td>\n$2,310<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Palm Bay, FL<\/span><\/td>\n$17,939<\/span><\/td>\n$44,894<\/span><\/td>\n$26,955<\/span><\/td>\n$2,246<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jackson, MS<\/span><\/td>\n$18,202<\/span><\/td>\n$43,898<\/span><\/td>\n$25,697<\/span><\/td>\n$2,141<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/h3>\n

Full Metro-Level Breakdown (2020)<\/h3>\n