5 ms·

Where? Where in the US can someone live on blue collar salary and afford a mortgage?

b9a2cab5 5y ago
Plenty of places in the Midwest/South if you're a tradesman. Obviously a McDonald's worker or Starbucks barista is probably not going to be able to afford a mortgage.
- stefan_ 5y ago
  This is obvious because? We certainly have the wealth for it.
  - b9a2cab5 5y ago
    You are free to tip until they make whatever you consider a sufficient wage. "We" should start with "you".
    - piva00 5y ago
      Tipping is the worst culture possible for work environments... Make someone's salary hostage to the whims of patrons, what a lovely way to live.
- derbOac 5y ago
  I agree with you, speaking from experience with family. But I also see the spillover from the coasts as threatening this. The "wealthy refugees from the west coast" has become a real thing. Maybe it's all about [over]population and age distributions.
- butMyside 5y ago
  Then spend all their retirement on medical care for their broken body. We treat each other like animals no matter the job. Moral relativism has never gone anywhere. It was black people, and women, now it’s just poor people. Still flogging Anglo gibberish law when it’s clear it’s all just biological need being held hostage by political corruption empowering cliques like a fucking high school
samsolomon 5y ago
Most small and mid-sized cities? I lived in Mobile, Alabama for a couple years. I rented an awesome 1,400 sq ft place with power, gas and water included for about $600/mo. Looking at that same street on Zillow it looks like there are a few 3br 2ba homes for around $200,000.
throwaway803453 5y ago
One of the properties I own is in Reno which is a 4hr drive from SF. It's a 2br 1ba condo which Zillow estimates $207k. It's nice, fully remodeled. That would be $900 mortgage + $180 hoa + $50 taxes (?) = ~$1200/mo ? Make $20/hour like most folks in this working class neighborhood do and you are all set. Get a roommate or a spouse that works part time if you can't earn $20/hr.
- jkaptur 5y ago
  Enviably close to Tahoe, too.
afpx 5y ago
Most of the US, I'm guessing. There are 53 million people living out in rural areas. The vast majority aren't college educated. People just live on a lower standard of living and get by with less. For example, my sister just bought a $28,000 3 bedroom house. It's a boring old company home, in a boring and uneducated area of the country. But, she has lived there all her life and enjoys the people and culture.
abernard1 5y ago
> Where? Where in the US can someone live on blue collar salary and afford a mortgage? Most places that aren't deep blue cities. That seems like hyperbole but is true. Picking just a few cities, the median house prices/sq footages are: - Houston, TX: $238K, 2031 sq ft - Indianapolis, Indiana: $196K, 1853 sq ft - Oklahoma City, OK: $152K, 1455 sq ft - Atlanta, GA: $399K, 1586 sq ft Each one of these places has a cost of living (excluding real estate) less than 50% that of CA as a whole. All >1M size metros. The most expensive, Atlanta, has a combined monthly payment inc taxes of $1700 a month on a 30-yr. That's $20,400 a year. Median plumber salary in Atlanta is $63K a year, so this would be 1/3rd their income. Once again, that's median salary and salaries rise sharply at mid-career, and median home price.
throw0101a 5y ago
Generally speaking, the US population is quite concentrated. 66% of people live with-in 100mi (160km) of a border: * https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone A sizeable portion live on the coast: > As of 2014, nearly 40% of the population lived in counties on the coast. * https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html So presumably there's a decent amount of space 'in the middle'.

Plenty of places in the Midwest/South if you're a tradesman. Obviously a McDonald's worker or Starbucks barista is probably not going to be able to afford a mortgage.

stefan_ 5y ago
This is obvious because? We certainly have the wealth for it.
- b9a2cab5 5y ago
  You are free to tip until they make whatever you consider a sufficient wage. "We" should start with "you".
  - piva00 5y ago
    Tipping is the worst culture possible for work environments... Make someone's salary hostage to the whims of patrons, what a lovely way to live.
derbOac 5y ago
I agree with you, speaking from experience with family. But I also see the spillover from the coasts as threatening this. The "wealthy refugees from the west coast" has become a real thing. Maybe it's all about [over]population and age distributions.
butMyside 5y ago
Then spend all their retirement on medical care for their broken body. We treat each other like animals no matter the job. Moral relativism has never gone anywhere. It was black people, and women, now it’s just poor people. Still flogging Anglo gibberish law when it’s clear it’s all just biological need being held hostage by political corruption empowering cliques like a fucking high school

samsolomon 5y ago

Most small and mid-sized cities? I lived in Mobile, Alabama for a couple years. I rented an awesome 1,400 sq ft place with power, gas and water included for about $600/mo. Looking at that same street on Zillow it looks like there are a few 3br 2ba homes for around $200,000.

throwaway803453 5y ago

One of the properties I own is in Reno which is a 4hr drive from SF. It's a 2br 1ba condo which Zillow estimates $207k. It's nice, fully remodeled. That would be $900 mortgage + $180 hoa + $50 taxes (?) = ~$1200/mo ? Make $20/hour like most folks in this working class neighborhood do and you are all set. Get a roommate or a spouse that works part time if you can't earn $20/hr.

jkaptur 5y ago
Enviably close to Tahoe, too.

afpx 5y ago

Most of the US, I'm guessing. There are 53 million people living out in rural areas. The vast majority aren't college educated. People just live on a lower standard of living and get by with less. For example, my sister just bought a $28,000 3 bedroom house. It's a boring old company home, in a boring and uneducated area of the country. But, she has lived there all her life and enjoys the people and culture.

abernard1 5y ago

> Where? Where in the US can someone live on blue collar salary and afford a mortgage? Most places that aren't deep blue cities. That seems like hyperbole but is true. Picking just a few cities, the median house prices/sq footages are: - Houston, TX: $238K, 2031 sq ft - Indianapolis, Indiana: $196K, 1853 sq ft - Oklahoma City, OK: $152K, 1455 sq ft - Atlanta, GA: $399K, 1586 sq ft Each one of these places has a cost of living (excluding real estate) less than 50% that of CA as a whole. All >1M size metros. The most expensive, Atlanta, has a combined monthly payment inc taxes of $1700 a month on a 30-yr. That's $20,400 a year. Median plumber salary in Atlanta is $63K a year, so this would be 1/3rd their income. Once again, that's median salary and salaries rise sharply at mid-career, and median home price.

throw0101a 5y ago

Generally speaking, the US population is quite concentrated. 66% of people live with-in 100mi (160km) of a border: * https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone https://www.aclu.org/other/constitution-100-mile-border-zone A sizeable portion live on the coast: > As of 2014, nearly 40% of the population lived in counties on the coast. * https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/population.html So presumably there's a decent amount of space 'in the middle'.