More Americans Are Leaving Top-tier Cities After Being Priced Out

Americans are increasingly leaving behind expensive big cities for more affordable, second-tier metro areas that offer a different quality of life, according to a new study.
While a middle-class lifestyle may be out of reach in Los Angeles or [/news/new_york/index.html New York City], it's easier to feel upwardly mobile in Raleigh, North Carolina or https://travelmic.hpage.com/top-10-largest-state-in-india-by-area.html Dallas, [/news/texas/index.html Texas] - two metro areas that made the top ten list for having some of the highest levels of in-migration in the country.
In fact, the Phoenix-metro area has experienced the highest net in-migration in the nation over the past five years, while Los Angeles had the highest net out-migration. 
The reason: Second-tier cities are where rent and home prices make up a much smaller fraction of the average income, according to an [ ]of U.S. Census data by RentCafe.com. 
For example, the average rent in Manhattan is $4,100, which amounts to 59 percent of the city's median household income of $83,500. Buying a home is even more out of reach, with a median cost of $1.1 million, or 13 times the median Manhattan income.
This map illustrates the top 10 counties Americans are leaving and the top 10 counties Americans are moving to based on net in- and out-migration. The metro areas highlighted in green are the most affordable, while those labeled in red are the least affordable
Los Angeles isn't much better with an average rent of $2,100, amounting to 38 percent of the median income of $66,000 a year, and a median home price of $630,000.
Compare that to Maricopa County, Arizona, where the Phoenix Metro area has an average rent of $1,100 - 21 percent of the median income of $62,800. And the median home price is a much more affordable $280,000.
Experts say that rent or mortgage payments should never surpass 30 percent of a person's monthly income, and U.S. Census data shows that 55 percent of people who moved in 2017 said they did so for a housing related reason. In other words, they wanted a new or better home, cheaper housing or to own instead of renting.
Experts at RentCafe analyzed Census data from 2012-2017 to determine the U.S. counties experiencing the greatest net inbound and outbound net migration.
This table offers a side-by-side look at the top 10 counties Americans are leaving and the top 10 counties Americans are moving to based on net in- and out-migration
The findings revealed that affordable Maricopa County had more in-migration than anywhere else in the country, with the population growing by 221,000 people over five years.
Clark County, Nevada (the Las Vegas metro area) came in second with a net in-migration of 127,000. Denton County, Texas, home to Dallas-Fort Worth, followed with a 96,000-person net bump in migration.
Texas was home to five counties in the top ten list of regions with major in-migration. Fort Bend County (Houston-metro area) saw a 92,000 increase, while Collin County (Dallas-Fort Worth) had an influx of 90,000.
Bexar County (home to San Antonio) ranked eighth with an influx of 81,000, followed by Williamson County (Austin-Round Rock), which added 74,000 people to its population.
Lee County Florida (Fort Myers metro) added 90,000 people, while Riverside, California saw an uptick of 81,000 people. Wake County, North Carolina (Raleigh metro area) had a net influx of 73,000 people to rank tenth place.
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At the other end of the spectrum, Los Angeles, California had a net population loss of 381,000 people during the period of 2012-2017.
Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago, followed with a net loss of 290,000. Kings County, New York (Brooklyn) came in third with a decrease in population of 192,000, followed by Miami-Dade, Florida (176,000), Queens, New York (162,000) and the Bronx, New York (110,000).
Detroit's home county of Wayne came in seventh place, losing 106,000, followed by Manhattan (100,000), Fairfax, Virginia (the seat of Washington D.C. had a net loss of 79,000) and Santa Clara County, California (70,000).
The bigger cities aren't hurting for people though: eight out of 10 counties experiencing the biggest net losses in population due to domestic migration are otherwise growing their overall population due to immigration and births. The Chicago and Detroit metro areas were the two exceptions, with both seeing an overall decline in population.
The study also analyzed rent data from [ ] and home sale prices listed on [ ]to find out how affordable it was to buy or rent housing in the metros that made each of the top ten lists.
This table offers a side-by-side look at the top 10 counties Americans are leaving and the top 10 counties Americans are moving to based on net in- and out-migration. It offers a comparison of median incomes and housing prices to illustrate how affordable each metro area is
In almost every case it was much more realistic to pay for housing in metro areas experiencing the most in-migration compared to those seeing the largest net decline in domestic migration.
The average rent in the top 10 in-migration counties was $1,110, while in the other 10 counties it was $2,207 - double the cost of the alternative metros.
Rent ranged from 14 percent - 26 percent of the median income in the destinations where people are moving. By contrast, rent ranged from 18 percent - 64 percent of the median income in the metro areas that people were leaving, with New York home to some of the most disproportionally high rents.
For those looking to buy, the affordability pattern persisted.
The median home price was around $295,000 in the top 10 in-migration counties, while in the top 10 out-migration counties it came to an average of $566,000, nearly double.
In addition, those choosing to move to more affordable places didn't necessarily have to deal with a tradeoff of a lower income.
For example, the median incomes in the Texas counties of Denton, Fort Bend, Collin, and Williamson range from $86,000 to $94,000, all higher than the median income in Manhattan of $83,500.
And the Phoenix area has a median household income of $63,000 - just $3,000 less than the $66,000 median in Los Angeles metro. Meanwhile, the rent is $1,000 per month cheaper in Phoenix than in L.A. County and the median price of a home is $350,000 less than that in L.A. metro. 




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Read more:

[ Goodbye L.A., Hello Phoenix: Affordable Housing Makes Second-Tier Metros Top Choices for Moving - RENTCafé rental blog]
[ Commercial Real Estate Data and Research - Yardi Matrix]
[ Real Estate, Homes for Sale, MLS Listings, Agents | Redfin]



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