Many Americans Moving to Less Affordable Markets

Many American workers are moving from more affordable metropolitan areas to less affordable places like San Francisco and Seattle, according to new analysis of LinkedIn migration data.

More than 1.7 million members of LinkedIn's website moved to a less affordable housing market in the twelve months starting in October 2017. In 13 of the 20 largest metros, this was true for a majority of the workforce. Research economist for the National Association of Realtors Nadia Evangelou says that while fewer Americans are moving in general, fewer are moving for job-related reasons than before, "however, due to a strong economy, it seems that people get better jobs and decide to move to the most attractive areas across the United States."

The San Francisco area was the most popular destination for workers moving from Detroit. More than 36,000 LinkedIn members from Detroit moved to the San Francisco area in the last 12 months. Based on the REALTORS® Affordability Distribution Curve and Score (RADCS), the affordability score for Detroit was 0.95 in September 2018 while the affordability score for the San Francisco area was 0.48. But what does this mean? The higher the score, the more affordable the area is. For example, a household earning $100,000 in Detroit can afford to buy 72 percent of homes currently listed for sale while the same household can afford to buy only 8 percent of homes for sale in San Francisco area.

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