Estately logoIf you’re lucky enough to already own a home in Seattle, the chances are slim that a teacher or firefighter will be moving in next door. Your new neighbor is most likely going to be a doctor or computer programmer, according to a report from Estately, a real estate company bankrolled by Realogy.

Estately analyzed recent home sale prices and salaries for six different occupations in eight major U.S. cities. The company used salary data from Glassdoor for jobs ranging from astronaut ($65,000 year) to restaurant server ($24,000 year).

In Seattle, your friendly waiter or waitress can’t afford any of the homes on the market. Firefighters, who may make $43,000 a year to save your house during an emergency, only have a 2 percent chance of affording a place of their own.

The data only serves to highlight the growing home affordability crisis in a city where rising technology salaries are a trend and a concern. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray told GeekWire Wednesday night that the city’s growth, and specifically Amazon’s massive rise, “is a great problem to have.” But Murray said he is well aware that the city needs to get livability and affordability right as well-paid tech workers continue to move into the region.

Estately affordability
(Via Estately.com)

In San Francisco, that tech job may not even be enough. With a median sold price for a San Francisco home at $1.15 million, even computer programmers drop to a 4 percent affordability chance, while doctors have the best shot at 41 percent. All other professions in Estately’s study are at zero. Astronauts floating over Silicon Valley with dreams of living there should just stay in space.

Estately arrived at its estimates by determining how much workers in each profession could afford to spend on monthly mortgage payments, down payment, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, etc.

Among the occupations and cities Estately looked at, hopeful homebuyers would find the best chance in Detroit (with a median sold price 54 percent lower than San Francisco), St. Louis or Chicago.

Meanwhile, according to new research from the staffing agency Robert Half, the firm’s Career City Index ranks Seattle first among 25 U.S. cities when it comes to where professionals would most want to live and work. The Index measures different aspects of career development opportunities, quality and cost of living, and cultural environment.

Career City Index
(Via RobertHalf.com)
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