Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on Construction Cover.
High housing prices and insufficient pace of housing construction make it difficult for construction workers to afford a home in the cities where they work.
Adding to the issue, construction workers’ wages have not kept pace with recent inflation. At the same time, the housing market has become increasingly unaffordable over the past four years.
High housing prices in many cities mean that workers who build houses often cannot afford them.
To find out where construction workers are struggling to afford housing, researchers at Construction Coverage conducted an analysis using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Zillow, and the US Census Bureau. For more information, see the methodology section at the end.
Here are the most affordable major metro areas for construction workers.
15. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 75
- Average hourly wage: $37.70
- Median home price: $706,039
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $3,656
- Overall home ownership rate: 61.5%
14. Raleigh-Cary, NC
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 76
- Average hourly wage: $23.64
- Median home price: $448,653
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $2,323
- Overall home ownership rate: 67.8%
13. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 76
- Average hourly wage: $30.90
- Median home price: $585,948
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $3,034
- Overall home ownership rate: 62.8%
12. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 76
- Average hourly wage: $34.87
- Median home price: $668,361
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $3,461
- Overall home ownership rate: 51.7%
11. Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 80
- Average hourly wage: $23.15
- Median home price: $466,103
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $2,414
- Overall home ownership rate: 58.8%
10. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 80
- Average hourly wage: $28.20
- Median home price: $569,099
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $2,947
- Overall home ownership rate: 63.9%
9. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 80
- Average hourly wage: $29.36
- Median home price: $586,146
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $3,035
- Overall home ownership rate: 65.8%
8. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 81
- Average hourly wage: $36.63
- Median home price: $748,591
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $3,876
- Overall home ownership rate: 59.8%
7. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 82
- Average hourly wage: $28.88
- Median home price: $592,720
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $3,069
- Overall home ownership rate: 64.5%
6. Miami Beach-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano, FL
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 83
- Average hourly wage: $23.64
- Median home price: $490,171
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $2,538
- Overall home ownership rate: 59.9%
5. Salt Lake City, UT
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 84
- Average hourly wage: $26.17
- Median home price: $548,835
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $2,842
- Overall home ownership rate: 67.6%
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
- Weekly hours needed to buy a median priced home: 125
- Average hourly wage: $30.76
- Median home price: $966,786
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $5,006
- Overall home ownership rate: 47.9%
3. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
- Weekly hours needed to buy a median priced home: 126
- Average hourly wage: $30.37
- Median home price: $957,582
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $4,959
- Overall home ownership rate: 54.5%
2. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 126
- Average hourly wage: $37.43
- Median home price: $1,180,321
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $6,112
- Overall home ownership rate: 56.2%
1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
- Weekly hours needed to find a median priced home: 175
- Average hourly wage: $37.05
- Median home price: $1,624,016
- Monthly mortgage payment for an average-priced home: $8,409
- Overall home ownership rate: 54.9%
How to do it
To find the metropolitan areas where construction workers will have to work the longest hours to find a home in their city, researchers at Construction Coverage analyzed the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the US Census Bureau’s. The 2022 American Community Survey, and data from Zillow’s Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), a measure of average home value.
The researchers ranked neighborhoods by the number of weekly work hours required for a construction worker earning the median hourly wage to afford a median-priced home in his neighborhood.
For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that construction workers do not spend more than 30% of their salary on their monthly paycheck. The median mortgage payment is calculated by assuming a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, a 20% down payment, and an interest rate of 6.73% – the US average as of August 2024.
The researchers also calculated the median home value calculated using Zillow’s ZHVI value as of June 2024. In the tie-in, the area with the median hourly wage for construction workers was ranked highest.
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