Photo by Walker Evans.

According to a new study published at Medium.com, both rental rates and house prices have risen in America since 2011, while wages have not kept pace. This means that many cities are growing more unaffordable to live in when trying to strike an appropriate balance on personal housing costs.

In Columbus, rental rates have climbed 25.2% from 2011 to 2015, while home prices have risen slower at 5.8% during the same time frame. That’s a little bit above the national average of 18.5% for rent increase, but much lower for housing prices, which increased nationwide at 23.9% since 2011. Pay rates climbed in Columbus by 5.3% over the past four years, just a little ahead of the national average of a 4.5% increase.

Overall, this means that owning a home in Columbus is becoming a more attractive option than renting, and both types of housing remain a more affordable option than other cities have have seen even bigger spikes. San Francisco, Oakland, Denver, Seattle and Austin topped the list with some of the fastest rent increases (San Francisco’s spiked by 64.9% in the past four years) and fastest housing price increases (Oakland’s home prices jumped 67.3% since 2011).

To read the full article, visit medium.com.

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