The sky-high cost of living has overtaken traffic as the most-hated part of living in the Puget Sound region, as local home prices continue to set records in King and Snohomish counties, our online news partner The Seattle Times reports.

A new poll commissioned by the Puget Sound Regional Council asked people across the region what they like least about living here, and the answer was the cost of living. All sorts of things are getting more expensive here, but most poll respondents specifically cited housing costs. Rents have soared about 60 percent in seven years, while home prices have grown faster here than anywhere else in the country for the last year and a half.

In Snohomish County, the median house surpassed half a million dollars for the first time. The typical house here cost about $506,000 in April, up 15 percent in a year, The Times said.

You can read more in The Times story here.