San Diego is #1! Hat tip to Mitch for sending this in:
According to the magazine, the Value Index measures how comfortably the average resident of a metro area can afford to live within their means. Specifically, it looks at housing affordability, as well as federal data on the parity between regional prices and national averages.
Home prices were one of the factors that pushed San Diego up on the ranking, given that average prices are considerably higher than the national rate.
In August, the median price for a single-family home came in right at $1 million for the first time in the region’s history — nearly $650,000 more than the national average by some estimates.
U.S. News and World Report also pointed to additional fees that San Diego residents have to pay, such as homeowners association dues or apartment complex maintenance costs, as another factor driving its unaffordability.
However, the magazine said that many residents are willing to pay elevated prices relating to cost-of-living, given other aspects of the region that make it an ideal place to live.
They added that some San Diegans often refer “to the cost-of-living differences as the ‘sunshine tax,’ or price of enjoying a year-round temperate climate.”
Many of the other metro areas that were placed along the top 10 have similar “sunny” reputations with their climate, including cities Los Angeles, Honolulu, Miami and Santa Barbara.
Los Angeles, which came in second place on the ranking, was also given a score of 3.3 for residents’ ability to afford living there. Although, San Diego’s northern neighbor comparatively had lower scores for other metrics used by the magazine to look at “best places to live,” including the overall and quality of life indexes.
A full list of the top 25 “most expensive places to live” in the U.S. can be found here. San Diego is #1.
This ranking comes as inflation rate nationwide remains to a persistent problem for federal officials, but San Diegans seem to have been feeling it even more.
In San Diego, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that the city exceeded the year-to-year national rate of inflation, which was around 3.7% in September. Over the last 12 months, prices in the San Diego area advanced about 4.7% overall, according to the bureau.
Housing costs have been one of the most pressing issues facing elected officials, with prices skyrocketing for both buyers and renters due to a continued lack of available units to meet the demand in the region.
You cannot trust CSMA (census) data for things like this. “LA” includes Ventura, San Berdoo, LA, Orange & Riverside Counties. 350 miles across. 18 million people. That’s not “a place to live”. That’s a major country.
I blame USN&WR for clickbaiting.
There are people who actually commute into LA proper from all those outlying places. It’s not how I’d want to live, but people doing it is what makes a region a metro area.
Salinas #7? Make absolutely no sense
Who gets past the headlines though? Even when making life-changing multi-million-dollar decisions?