Living in California in the Bay Area close to San Francisco is now so expensive that in some counties earning a six-figure salary is considered to be ‘low income.
The surprising declaration is down to calculations made by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Each year, the department releases ‘income limits’ which state the minimum income level required to qualify for some affordable housing programs.
In San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, a family of four must earn $117,400 a year. ‘Very low income’ is considered $73,300.
In parts of the Bay Area, a six-figure income qualifies as ‘low income’. San Francisco’s famed Painted Ladies Victorian houses are pictured here
The Bay Area figures are the highest in the country according to SFGate and there does not appear to be any sign of the rapidly rising costs slowing down.
Income limits in some cities in the Bay Area increased by 10 percent from 2017. The median home price in the area is now at an all-time high of $935,000.
The high cost of living also means that more people are looking to leave the area.
Although the data is limited, a number of reports suggest that many people are now looking to leave the area to escape the high cost of living.
Real estate site Redfin noted that there were signs of ‘outward migration’ with people searching for homes outside of the big city areas.
San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo show that an income of $117,400 for a family of four can be counted as low income. An income of $73,300 is considered ‘very low’
San Francisco, a city of 870,000 was once so diverse it was known as Baghdad by the Bay, but it has grown steadily whiter and richer, according to U.S. census data, with a median income over $100,000.
PolicyLink, a social research institute, estimates San Francisco will be the whitest pocket in a racially and ethnically mixed region by 2040.
Few question that the Bay Area’s booming economy has contributed to make houses and apartments outlandishly expensive for all but well-paid tech workers.
In the first quarter of 2018, the median house price soared to US$1.665 million, a nearly one-quarter increase over the previous year, according to Paragon, a real estate brokerage.
The city’s real estate was recently declared the priciest in the world by British property start-up Nested.
New housing near the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in downtown Dublin, California, one of the fastest growing cities in the San Francisco Bay Area