Boston is wicked expensive

While I’m lucky to have a home I love and can afford, I realize that isn’t the case for everyone living in Boston.  A lack of affordable housing / rentals is a problem the city continues to grapple with despite Mayor Walsh’s statement this past October that he wants 53,000 new housing units built in the next 15 years.

To afford Boston’s median rent you need to make $100k

In December I posted the image above from Zumper.com which found that rents in Boston are for the most part increasing. This makes the findings from Zillow.com all the more important because it suggests a year from now one might need to make even more money; outpacing cost of living increases and making Boston less desirable.

According to Zillow.com, a single person needs to earn $50 / hour or $100k a year to afford median rent, that is just shy of $2,500 a month, and the problem isn’t limited to just Boston.  It is a regional issue and perhaps needs a more collaborative approach, involving mayors from surrounding communities.  Zillow.com points out that even traditionally affordable cities like Chelsea have sky-high rent as compared to resident income with median rents now more than $2,100 / month.