Housing Availability Variation Across the US by Budget
For a slow-down and
interactive version see all regions.
Personal Interest
Seventeen years ago I lived in a walkin refrigerator in a warehouse on a $600/month budget -
I loved it. The artist warehouses in Oakland do contain a certain magic, if a few housing hazards as well.
The gain for me was a formative love of humanity, at the cost of
being plagued by adult onset asthma. Asbestos? Freeways? Who knows. What can I say? I've lived.
Since then, my budget, and housing standard has dramatically increased - I now have 3 refrigerators in a house.
On this journey through at least 20 addresses, the first 10 years all started with a sense of upward
momentum, a belief in a path forward to even better housing. The last few years housing has taken a
background role, as my quality of life improvements aren't going to come from a bigger house.
Who needs more than 3 refrigerators? Interestingly, I see this journey reflected in the data.
Increasing a budget from 200k to 400k opens up much more housing than an increase of 400k to 600k.
Take your pick of linear or log growth functions and starting points - but the conclusion holds.
The quality of life improvements we get from increasing lower housing budgets are dramatically larger
than the quality of life improvements we get from increasing higher housing budgets.
Progression of Housing Availability from 200k to 400k to 800k or rather Unstable to 2000sf Builder Grade to 4000sf Builder Grade Availability
Overall, I hope you take two conclusions from this data:
Small changes in house prices between 100k and 500k have dramatic effects on housing availability for most of the US population.
For folks working with budgets over 800k, the world is more open than you might think, especially if you're a remote worker.
-June
Chat-GPT Hot Take
Rising US housing prices have significantly impacted quality of life, leading to
increased financial stress and less disposable income for other necessities. Higher costs contribute
to housing insecurity, with more individuals facing eviction or homelessness. The stress associated
with unaffordable housing negatively affects both mental and physical health, while also limiting
access to quality education and economic opportunities due to geographic and financial constraints.
Moreover, expensive housing markets disrupt community cohesion and contribute to gentrification,
displacing long-standing residents. Overall, the affordability crisis in housing demands comprehensive
policy solutions to mitigate its wide-ranging effects on well-being.
-ChatGPT4
Housing Prices for Cities over 100k Population
See how far the above budget would go in the most expensive zip code in each city.
Location
Housing Level
Builder Grade PPSF
Median Home Sale
Median Days on Market
Builder Grade Home SF
Designer Grade Home SF
Estate Grade Home SF
Data Notes
House prices are taken from Redfin sales data and builder cost estimates. A local inflation rate is calculated and
augments a cost per sqft for different types of housing to estimate house costs in all zip codes. It should
be noted that some estimates don't indicate that all housing is available. For the multimillion dollar budgets,
these houses would have to be built in most locales.
