Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Low Earners Move Out

Earlier this month, Gene Balk of the Seattle Times reported that low-earners in Seattle were moving out of the city at a faster rate than any other city in the nation. Those households earning less than $35,000 fell by over 13 percent in the past year.

The number of top-income earning households (over $150,000 annual income) increased during this same time frame by almost the same percentage as the decrease for low-income households. Median household income in Seattle now stands at $80,000, according to U.S. census data.

These trends are likely due to a combination of two factors: poorer wage earners moving out of the city to places with a lower cost of living, and some wage earners moving up the economic ladder.

It would be interesting to look at income distribution in areas surrounding Seattle, but the data would likely show higher median incomes the closer a resident gets to the job centers of Seattle and Bellevue.

There are also statistics that show how far people are willing to commute to jobs in Seattle. Not surprisingly, those with higher incomes prefer to live closer to their jobs, while those of lower incomes tend to commute from greater distances.

So what areas are seeing the greatest demand in terms of numbers of housing transactions? We will take a look at that in tomorrow's blog.

Happy Investing!

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