SEATTLE and SAN FRANCISCO, March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- There's a good reason thousands of technology workers are flocking to Seattle: the math works out. Tech workers who rent in Seattle can expect to have around $5,500 left over each month after covering taxes and rental housing costs. In San Francisco, they're left with about $4,000.

Zillow and LinkedIn combined housing and employment data to analyze a common set of priorities: an affordable rental home and a good job. The two companies used job listings data, salary data, and the percent of workers hired in the past yeari in three industries: health care, technology, and finance. By analyzing income tax rates and Zillow's median rent dataii, they were able to find housing markets across the country where those workers can pocket the largest share of their income after paying rent.

For technology workers who rent, Seattle, Austin and Pittsburgh, Penn. came out on top among the housing markets analyzed, with the Bay Area at #4. Finance workers will find job and rental housing harmony most easily in Charlotte, NC, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Phoenix. Healthcare workers' best bets are Phoenix, Indianapolis, Ind., and Boston.

Over the past decade, housing prices in coastal markets have shot up, in large part due to demand from workers following high-paying jobs. West Coast housing affordability is the worst in the nation; renters and home owners there often spend nearly half the median income to rent a typical home, while a rental in the middle of the country costs more like 25 percent of the median income.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the findings is that tech workers do OK in the Bay Area, despite its notoriously high housing prices. The median home value in the San Francisco area is $789,300. Taking a tech job in the Denver area, where the median home value is $348,700, actually costs the average Denver tech worker about $140 a month, considering lower salaries there.

Salaries for other industries don't hold up as well in the San Francisco area, though. Even highly-paid finance workers keep only about 32 percent of their incomes after paying for housing and taxes. In Charlotte or Chicago, they can pocket a median of 61 percent.

"High demand and inventory shortages have driven up housing prices in some markets so much that even if you land a great job, the salary might not cover living within commuting distance," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. "On the other hand, the nation's most affordable housing markets don't always offer plentiful employment opportunities. Housing is the biggest line item in most people's budgets, so we did the math for you and found 'sweet spots' -- places with great job markets and housing markets that will leave you with some cash at the end of the month."

"As we've seen in LinkedIn's Workforce Reports, hiring has been strong in the U.S. We also know that having insight into where your earnings go further is important to job seekers," said Paul Ko, the head of analytics for LinkedIn's Economic Graph. "That's why these Sweet Spots are so attractive, as these cities are experiencing higher-than-average hiring rates, combined with good salaries and more disposable income."

For more information about methodology, check out Zillow Research.

Finance Renters Owners



Disposable

Income (%) Disposable

Income ($) Disposable

Income

(%) Disposable

Income ($) Sweet

Spot

Ranking

for

Rentersiii Charlotte, NC 52.3% $ 3,685 61.3% $ 4,318 1 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 53.4% $ 3,597 64.8% $ 4,362 2 Phoenix, AZ 50.6% $ 3,249 58.0% $ 3,723 3 Boston, MA 41.7% $ 3,198 52.7% $ 4,043 4 Chicago, IL 48.8% $ 3,453 61.1% $ 4,322 5 New York City, NY 37.6% $ 3,142 48.1% $ 4,021 6 Seattle, WA 51.0% $ 4,163 57.1% $ 4,657 7 Austin, TX 51.4% $ 3,495 61.3% $ 4,170 8 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 47.8% $ 3,429 57.5% $ 4,128 9 San Francisco Bay, CA 30.1% $ 2,794 32.3% $ 2,991 10 Pittsburgh, PA 56.2% $ 3,582 65.2% $ 4,155 11 Denver, CO 41.5% $ 2,761 51.2% $ 3,409 12 Nashville, TN 55.9% $ 3,715 65.9% $ 4,379 13 Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL 53.7% $ 3,085 65.5% $ 3,762 14 Washington D.C. Metro, VA 39.1% $ 3,121 47.9% $ 3,819 15

Healthcare Services Renters Owners



Disposable

Income (%) Disposable

Income ($) Disposable

Income (%) Disposable

Income ($) Sweet Spot

Ranking for

Renters Phoenix, AZ 52.1% $ 3,793 58.6% $ 4,267 1 Indianapolis, IN 53.7% $ 3,111 65.3% $ 3,783 2 Boston, MA 40.1% $ 2,861 52.0% $ 3,706 3 Denver, CO 40.5% $ 2,580 50.7% $ 3,228 4 Austin, TX 48.7% $ 2,846 60.3% $ 3,521 5 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 46.7% $ 3,087 57.3% $ 3,786 6 Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL 54.4% $ 3,297 65.6% $ 3,974 7 Seattle, WA 48.8% $ 3,502 55.6% $ 3,996 8 Pittsburgh, PA 55.9% $ 3,403 65.3% $ 3,976 9 Nashville, TN 55.4% $ 3,503 65.9% $ 4,167 10 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 52.8% $ 3,405 64.7% $ 4,170 11 San Francisco Bay, CA 31.0% $ 2,976 33.1% $ 3,173 12 Charlotte, NC 50.7% $ 3,050 61.2% $ 3,683 13 Kansas City, MO 49.2% $ 2,943 60.6% $ 3,625 14 Chicago, IL 47.1% $ 2,999 60.8% $ 3,868 15

Technology Renters Owners



Disposable

Income (%) Disposable

Income ($) Disposable

Income (%) Disposable

Income ($) Sweet Spot

Ranking for

Renters Seattle, WA 54.3% $ 5,493 59.2% $ 5,987 1 Austin, TX 53.8% $ 4,336 62.2% $ 5,011 2 Pittsburgh, PA 56.4% $ 3,681 65.2% $ 4,254 3 San Francisco Bay, CA 35.6% $ 3,964 37.4% $ 4,161 4 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 54.9% $ 4,121 65.0% $ 4,886 5 Denver, CO 44.2% $ 3,373 52.7% $ 4,021 6 Charlotte, NC 52.1% $ 3,600 61.3% $ 4,233 7 Boston, MA 43.1% $ 3,532 53.4% $ 4,377 8 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 47.7% $ 3,419 57.5% $ 4,118 9 Detroit, MI 54.5% $ 3,925 64.1% $ 4,618 10 Atlanta, GA 50.8% $ 3,709 60.2% $ 4,397 11 Indianapolis, IN 55.0% $ 3,648 65.2% $ 4,320 12 Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL 55.5% $ 3,674 65.7% $ 4,351 13 Washington D.C. Metro, VA 40.1% $ 3,356 48.4% $ 4,054 14 Nashville, TN 55.3% $ 3,469 65.9% $ 4,133 15

Zillow

Zillow® is the leading real estate and rental marketplace dedicated to empowering consumers with data, inspiration and knowledge around the place they call home, and connecting them with the best local professionals who can help. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's Chief Economist Dr. Svenja Gudell. Dr. Gudell and her team of economists and data analysts produce extensive housing data and research covering more than 450 markets at Zillow Real Estate Research. Zillow also sponsors the quarterly Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey, which asks more than 100 leading economists, real estate experts and investment and market strategists to predict the path of the Zillow Home Value Index over the next five years. Launched in 2006, Zillow is owned and operated by Zillow Group (NASDAQ:Z and ZG), and headquartered in Seattle.

Zillow and Zestimate are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

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i Zillow analyzed the share of professionals on LinkedIn that indicated a job change in 2016, the number of unique job listings on LinkedIn in 2016, and the median wage reported on LinkedIn for a given industry and job market, through January 2017.

ii The Zillow Rent Index (ZRI) is the median Rent Zestimate® (estimated monthly rental price) for a given geographic area on a given day, and includes the value of all single-family residences, condominiums, cooperatives and apartments in Zillow's database, regardless of whether they are currently listed for rent. It is expressed in dollars.

iii The Sweet Spot Ranking is based on an index that includes labor market velocity, job listings, salaries, and rental housing costs for renters in different housing and job markets across the country.

SOURCE Zillow

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