From Teachers to Doctors: How Affordable is Housing for the DC-Area Workforce?

• April 9, 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

As DC's agencies get creative to ensure construction of workforce housing, Trulia's latest analysis examines just how affordable housing is for the regional workforce.

Based on Labor Department and median housing price data for the 93 largest metropolitan areas, the Trulia report finds that overall, the workers whose professions are in service of the community find it unaffordable to live in the communities they serve.

Teachers are the worst off across the professions examined, facing a less affordable housing market in 85 out of the 93 areas studied. The DC area was no exception in this, also seeing a smaller share of affordable homes year-over-year.

As seen in the table above, housing has become less affordable over the past year for the workforce in the DC metro. Unsurprisingly, a large share of the housing stock is financially accessible to doctors. Meanwhile, only 1.2 percent of restaurant workers, defined to include everyone from cooks to waiters to bartenders, can afford to buy a home in the region.

The affordability share this year is based on the 2018 median listing price for the region of $464,900; for 2017, the affordability share is based on a median listing price of $444,999.

Trulia's analysis defines housing as affordable if the monthly payment is less than 31 percent of take-home pay. For homeowners, it is assumed that buyers paid a 20 percent down payment and have a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a 4.44 percent interest rate; property taxes, insurance and any homeowners' association fees are also factored.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/how-affordable-is-housing-for-the-dc-area-workforce/13811