California’s Bay Area is so over-inflated that earning $117,400 a year now qualifies as “low income” in some counties, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD annually releases “income limits,” the minimum income level required to qualify for some affordable housing programs. To be considered “low income” in ultra-expensive San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties, a family of four must earn $117,400 a year. The threshold for a single person to qualify as “low income” is $82,000 per year. (RELATED: Proposal To Split California Gains Speed).
And California wonders why the rest of the country ridicules them?
California is beyond parody https://t.co/T3IAHIujNP
— Onson Sweemey (@TaboriHK) June 27, 2018
While housing prices are rising faster than incomes nationwide, well-paid Silicone Valley tech workers have driven up the median price for a single-family home in the Bay Area to a staggering $935,000 – a 64 percent increase from May 2013 to May 2018. And many of the homes being sold aren’t even liveable:
CBS News went to see California’s red-hot housing market with realtor Larry Gallegos. He showed us a house you would think he couldn’t give away. But Gallegos says the home, complete with leaks in the roof, sold for $1.23 million. The buyer beat out six competing offers, all above the asking price.
“It’s a little mind blowing, but it is the norm around here,” Gallegos said.
Unsurprisingly, the high cost of living has spurred a mass exodus from the Bay Area, with people like teachers, hospital workers, and police officers – the workers who make up the backbone of community – fleeing to more affordable areas of the country. Indeed, Real estate site Redfin determined the Bay Area is the top region in the nation for “outward migration” by analyzing where people were searching for homes.
As the tweet above states, California is beyond parody at this point. Across 90 percent of the country, $117,400 per year is more than most families could ever hope for or need, but in California, it means they might have to resort to buying a used Tesla. Tragic.
