Housing is expensive in many U.S. cities, but it’s especially out of reach for single women.
Housing is expensive in many U.S. cities, but it’s especially out of reach for single women.
Being single is expensive. Single people pay more in taxes, receive less Social Security, and have just one income to cover expenses like a mortgage or to save for a down payment on a home.
Four in 10 adults (38%) aged 25-54 are single in the U.S., a sharp rise from 29% in 1990, according to Pew Research. Men are now more likely than women to be unpartnered, which wasn’t the case 30 years ago.
With housing prices up, it’s harder than ever for a single person to buy a home, and women make, on average, just 83% of what men make.
The disparity between wage growth and the increased cost of housing has also pushed a number of formerly affordable cities into unaffordable territory for singles, according to a study by PropertyShark, a real estate search and data aggregation platform for property investors. Their research found that single women of median national income cannot afford to buy in 34 cities today — that’s 10 more than just five years ago.
They also found that there are 12 cities where women earning median income cannot afford to buy a home, but men can. This affordability gap exists in all of the 51 cities in PropertyShark’s study—homes are more affordable for single men than single women.
To determine the affordability gap, PropertyShark used median home price and asking price data in the 51 largest U.S. cities and median wages from the U.S. Census Bureau (nationally it’s about $61,417 for men and $50,982 for women.) Starter homes are defined as studios and one-bedroom homes. Affordability in the starter-home market was defined by the general rule that mortgage payments shouldn’t be more than 30% of monthly income. Everything above this threshold was considered unaffordable.
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Here is the affordability gap between men and women in 29 cities:
Cities Where Men Can Afford a Home, But Women Can’tShutterstock
In these cities, the median wage for a single male is enough to cover a mortgage for a median-priced home, but for women, it’s not.
1. SeattleMonthly payment as % of income, women: 40%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 29%
2. DenverMonthly payment as % of income, women: 40%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 30%
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3. Fort Worth, TexasMonthly payment as % of income, women: 39%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 27%
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4. MinneapolisMonthly payment as % of income, women: 36%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 30%
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5. Charlotte, N.C.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 35%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 26%
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6. Sacramento, Calif.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 35%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 29%
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7. ChicagoMonthly payment as % of income, women: 34%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 26%
8. PhoenixMonthly payment as % of income, women: 33%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 26%
9. DallasMonthly payment as % of income, women: 33%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 25%
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10. Tucson, Ariz.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 33%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 26%
11. Kansas City, Mo.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 32%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 24%
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12. AtlantaMonthly payment as % of income, women: 31%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 23%
Cities That Are Affordable for Single WomenJay Yuan / Shutterstock
The following cities are considered affordable for women, but the gap still exists, and is pretty significant in most of them:
Virginia Beach, Va.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 29%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 19%
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Columbus, OhioMonthly payment as % of income, women: 28%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 22%
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IndianapolisMonthly payment as % of income, women: 28%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 22%
Albuquerque, N.M.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 28%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 21%
Fresno, Calif.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 28%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 20%
Jacksonville, FlaMonthly payment as % of income, women: 27%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 20%
Mesa, Ariz.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 27%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 19%
San Antonio, TexasMonthly payment as % of income, women: 24%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 18%
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BaltimoreMonthly payment as % of income, women: 24%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 20%
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El Paso, TexasMonthly payment as % of income, women: 23%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 15%
Omaha, Neb.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 22%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 16%
Raleigh, N.C.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 22%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 17%
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Arlington, TexasMonthly payment as % of income, women: 22%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 17%
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Louisville, Ky.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 18%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 13%
Oklahoma CityMonthly payment as % of income, women: 14%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 10%
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Tulsa, Okla.Monthly payment as % of income, women: 14%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 10%
DetroitMonthly payment as % of income, women: 11%
Monthly payment as % of income, men: 10%
There are 21 cities that are considered unaffordable for both single men and women making the median national income—you can probably already guess the most expensive ones: New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, and San Jose. In the worst, New York, a man would have to pay 88% of his income on a monthly mortgage, while a woman would pay 117%, so not only is the cost extreme, but the imbalance is, too.
While New York is most expensive, the gap is greatest in San Jose, Calif., where the percent of income spent on a monthly mortgage for women is 29% higher (54% for men, 83% for women.)
In two cities, Milwaukee and Austin, the monthly payment for single men is just 1% over the usual acceptable limit of 30% of income, making a purchase still possible, but single women would be squeezed for 41% of their income on a monthly mortgage in these cities.
The study excludes St. Louis, Tampa, Fla., and Wichita, Kan., due to incomplete data.
See the full study at PropertyShark.
Also see: Cities Where Young Women Are Earning More Than Young Men