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> cities that already have high rents (New York, Austin, Chicago) I was curious about this. I live in Austin, and don't think the rent is particularly high the

> cities that already have high rents (New York, Austin, Chicago) I was curious about this. I live in Austin, and don't think the rent is particularly high there. I just wanted some data. Looking at rent prices on one website in particular (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Austin https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Austin) and using Austin as the baseline: Less expensive candidate cities: - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 43.54% higher than in Columbus, OH - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 40.87% higher than in Indianapolis, IN - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 34.51% higher than in Raleigh, NC - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 26.93% higher than in Pittsburgh, PA - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 24.66% higher than in Newark, NJ - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 18.86% higher than in Dallas, TX - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 9.24% higher than in Atlanta, GA - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 7.51% higher than in Toronto - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 5.29% higher than in Nashville, TN - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 4.49% higher than in Philadelphia, PA More expensive candidate cities: - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 6.64% lower than in Denver, CO - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 10.82% lower than in Chicago, IL - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 20.41% lower than in Miami, FL - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 26.91% lower than in Los Angeles, CA - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 31.45% lower than in Washington, DC - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 36.17% lower than in Boston, MA - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 49.78% lower than in New York, NY - Rent Prices in Austin, TX are 56.44% lower than in San Francisco, CA Here's a sortable table of various indexes: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/region_rankings.jsp?title=2018&region=021 https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/region_rankings.jsp?ti...

usaar333 9y ago
And TX lacks a state income tax, meaning disposable income will actually be higher in Austin than the numbers above imply.
- i_cant_speel 9y ago
  When a state doesn't have an income tax, doesn't that imply that they're getting those tax dollars from elsewhere?
  - Arzh 9y ago
    Yeah usually from taxes around home ownership. People who rent have this hit them less.
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      > Yeah usually from taxes around home ownership. Real property in general, not just homes (and even moreso, not just owner occupied homes.) But also can be sales taxes. > People who rent have this hit them less. Wrong. Property taxes (even those limited to residential property) hit renters at least as much as people living in homes they own. Sure, the landlord gets the tax bill, but that immediately goes into setting rent.
      - dllthomas 9y ago
        Depending on circumstances, landlords may eat tax increases in the short term.
      - usaar333 9y ago
        > Wrong. Property taxes (even those limited to residential property) hit renters at least as much as people living in homes they own. Sure, the landlord gets the tax bill, but that immediately goes into setting rent. To a degree; see the argument for land value tax which is close: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Efficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Efficiency If the supply of homes are relatively inelastic, the landlords are already maximizing the rent the market will pay. So they can't pass tax increases on to renters -- as they are already charging the maximum renters would pay! (This starts to break down only if new housing is no longer built due to lower returns or owners devalue their housing to cut taxes)

usaar333 9y ago

And TX lacks a state income tax, meaning disposable income will actually be higher in Austin than the numbers above imply.

i_cant_speel 9y ago
When a state doesn't have an income tax, doesn't that imply that they're getting those tax dollars from elsewhere?
- Arzh 9y ago
  Yeah usually from taxes around home ownership. People who rent have this hit them less.
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > Yeah usually from taxes around home ownership. Real property in general, not just homes (and even moreso, not just owner occupied homes.) But also can be sales taxes. > People who rent have this hit them less. Wrong. Property taxes (even those limited to residential property) hit renters at least as much as people living in homes they own. Sure, the landlord gets the tax bill, but that immediately goes into setting rent.
    - dllthomas 9y ago
      Depending on circumstances, landlords may eat tax increases in the short term.
    - usaar333 9y ago
      > Wrong. Property taxes (even those limited to residential property) hit renters at least as much as people living in homes they own. Sure, the landlord gets the tax bill, but that immediately goes into setting rent. To a degree; see the argument for land value tax which is close: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Efficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Efficiency If the supply of homes are relatively inelastic, the landlords are already maximizing the rent the market will pay. So they can't pass tax increases on to renters -- as they are already charging the maximum renters would pay! (This starts to break down only if new housing is no longer built due to lower returns or owners devalue their housing to cut taxes)