Did not expect I'd live to see the day that Seattle was used as an example of reasonable cost of living city to compare to
this post was submitted on 17 May 2024
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I'm at about 40% income to rent, and that's with my living with two other adults. Landlord has consistently pumped rent by 20% every year, all while removing features (per-unit planter boxes demolished, fancy dishwasher & washer/dryer replaced with generic shit boxes, etc.).
I wish I'd never moved here
it's cheaper than boston by a decent amount, and it's equal in size more or less.
I was born in 86'.
So anyway....in 84' Massachusetts abolished rent control and affordable housing essentially. Saved you a read. Our zoning laws are stupid and Zillow owns everything.
It's okay tho, we're not supposed to retire till 67.
You were born in eighty-six feet?
There's actually a decent sized income gap between the two cities, which no doubt contributes. Rents looks very comparable.
Median income for the city of Boston: $89,212 (source)
Median income for the city of Seattle: $116,068 (source)
Per the same source,
- median gross rent is very comparable between the two cities ($1,945 vs. $1,981 in Seattle vs Boston, respectively)
- Seattle has a higher percentage of its population with college degrees, which likely explains some of the higher income
- Seattle also has a higher percentage of owner-occupied homes, which probably influences this, though I'm not exactly sure how.
Seattle, the actual city proper, only has a population of around 800k. But during work hours, it has a population of around 2.5 million.
Basically a huge amount of people live outside the city limits, all the lower wage workers.
Boston probably has a larger proportion of more poor people actually within its city limits.
I’m in California. Anecdotally, mine is almost exactly 50%. And I don’t even own.