I wasn’t able to afford to buy a house until I was over 50 years old, it took a global pandemic, a complete shutdown of the economy, and working from home for multiple years to bank the cash to make it happen.
“If you want to move to a shithole, you can get a good deal on a house” is not the persuasive argument you think it is.
EDIT: Just so you know where this person is coming from, they’ve moved on to talk about how fascism isn’t so bad from a “global perspective” and being anti-fascist is just “tribalism.”
You need to use median household income, not per capita. It’s $49,111 in Mississippi according to your source.
The ratio of home price to household income is typically between 4 and 5 in the US, so the median family should be able to afford the median house in Mississippi.
Household income is absolutely not the right metric to use here, because it’ll always be proportional to the cost of the house out of necessity.
For example, if the cost of a house goes up relative to individual income, then more people in the family need to start working more hours, and more people live with roommates.
Household income stays proportionally the same, always, but individual income shows you how much people are struggling.
Do those places have even remotely comparable work, laws, or amenities? Because yeah you can buy a dirt cheap house 5 mountains from the nearest city in rural Tennessee, but it’s a terrible place to live and you won’t be able to find work.
That’s not a crazy price, that’s like outskirts of reasonably sized city price.
I wasn’t able to afford to buy a house until I was over 50 years old, it took a global pandemic, a complete shutdown of the economy, and working from home for multiple years to bank the cash to make it happen.
People don’t rent because they CHOOSE to.
How much was your house?
Listed for $374,000, but I had to bid up to $390,000 to get it.
Yeah, you didn’t have to spend anywhere near that much.
But you wanted to, so you did.
To buy a house where I live, that’s a bargain!
Yeah, there are plenty of other places you can live though.
“If you want to move to a shithole, you can get a good deal on a house” is not the persuasive argument you think it is.
EDIT: Just so you know where this person is coming from, they’ve moved on to talk about how fascism isn’t so bad from a “global perspective” and being anti-fascist is just “tribalism.”
That’s because it’s not my argument. You’re being reddit-brained again.
Sure sounds like your argument to me. But do tell us the non-shithole places you can live where houses are less than $300,000.
There are, but you can’t make a living there.
It’s all proportional.
Let’s say you want to live in a low cost of living state:
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/real-estate/cheapest-states-to-live-in
Mississippi.
OK, I don’t know why anyone would want to live there, but sure, let’s look at the numbers.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MS/BZA115221
Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021 - $26,807
Persons in poverty, percent - 19.1%
https://www.zillow.com/home-values/34/ms/
“The average Mississippi home value is $174,932.”
You aren’t buying a $175K house making $12.54 an hour. It’s not happening.
Yeah, my house was only $60k. 1,200 square foot. Wasn’t the best deal I could get, but I’m satisfied with my purchase.
I was also looking at houses in a similar price range in Mississippi.
You don’t “need” to spend ‘average price’ for a nice house. You choose to because you want the luxuries that cause the price to go up.
Good maths but do it again with median, not average
You need to use median household income, not per capita. It’s $49,111 in Mississippi according to your source.
The ratio of home price to household income is typically between 4 and 5 in the US, so the median family should be able to afford the median house in Mississippi.
Household income is absolutely not the right metric to use here, because it’ll always be proportional to the cost of the house out of necessity.
For example, if the cost of a house goes up relative to individual income, then more people in the family need to start working more hours, and more people live with roommates.
Household income stays proportionally the same, always, but individual income shows you how much people are struggling.
Do those places have even remotely comparable work, laws, or amenities? Because yeah you can buy a dirt cheap house 5 mountains from the nearest city in rural Tennessee, but it’s a terrible place to live and you won’t be able to find work.
That’s not a crazy price, that’s like outskirts of reasonably sized city price.