Redfin and LinkedIn Reveal The 5 Best Emerging Tech Hubs for Software Engineers to Buy a Home

Start generating passive income through real estate.

Own a piece of your favorite cities through diversified real estate investments in the country's top markets

*Terms and conditions apply. Visit Nada's website for more details.

SEATTLE, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- RDFNCharlotte, North Carolina and Buffalo, New York are among the best metro areas for software engineers to buy a home, according to a new analysis from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, and LinkedIn, the employment-oriented social media platform. Both metros saw 4.1 percent year-over-year job growth in June for people in the field, and the typical software engineer would only need to spend 18.9 percent and 13.3 percent of their annual income, respectively, on housing. In comparison, the typical software engineer in San Francisco would need to spend 42.8 percent of their annual salary to afford a median-priced home.

Redfin Logo (PRNewsfoto/Redfin)

The two metros are more affordable options than tech hubs like San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where despite generous salaries and job growth of roughly 3.5 percent year-over-year, sky-high housing costs make homeownership difficult for typical software engineers. The typical home in the San Francisco metro sold for more than $1.4 million in July, out of reach for someone earning $186,300, the median income for a software engineer in the Bay Area.

"Because homeownership in expensive places like San Francisco is no longer a realistic consideration even for many people in high-paying fields, smaller inland cities are becoming increasingly attractive to young, educated people looking to build a career and live comfortably," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "Grand Rapids and Columbus don't offer as many job opportunities or salaries as high as you'd find in San Francisco, but because housing and other costs are so much lower, skilled professionals can achieve a higher quality of life. Tech companies are following the talent by opening offices or offering the option for employees to work remotely—which is contributing to growth in job opportunities for people seeking affordable housing."

Redfin worked with LinkedIn to curate a list of places with emerging tech scenes. LinkedIn provided data on job growth and median total compensation. To determine whether a metro is affordable on a typical software engineer's income for that area, Redfin used the rule that housing is affordable when it costs less than 30 percent of gross income.

Based on those parameters, software engineers may want to consider a move to Charlotte, North Carolina or Buffalo, New York rather than Silicon Valley. Some other places to consider are Grand Rapids, Michigan, Colorado Springs and Columbus, Ohio, areas with 3-percent-plus job growth where the typical software engineer would need to spend 20 percent or less of their income on housing. Seattle, where home prices have more than doubled over the last seven years partly due to its growth as a tech hub, is still relatively affordable for people in the field. The typical Seattle software engineer would need to spend 20 percent of their earnings to buy a home in the metro, comparable to the share in Colorado Springs.

Metros with strong job growth and affordable housing for software engineers



YoY job

growth for

software

engineers

(LinkedIn

data)

Median

income for

software

engineer

(LinkedIn

data)

Median

home-sale

price

Monthly

housing

payment for

median-

priced home

(mortgage

plus taxes)

What

percentage of

a software

engineer's

income is

necessary to

afford

median-

priced home?

Share of

homes for

sale

affordable on

a software

engineer's

income

Charlotte,

NC

4.1%

$80,000

$269,000

$1,257

18.9%

62.9%

Buffalo, NY

4.1%

$71,500

$170,000

$795

13.3%

76.3%

Grand

Rapids, MI

3.7%

$70,000

$217,000

$1,014

17.4%

64.7%

Colorado

Springs, CO

3.4%

$87,000

$320,000*

$1,496

20.6%

52.6%

Columbus,

OH

3.1%

$76,500

$229,000

$1,070

16.8%

60.7%

Seattle, WA

5.4%

$157,600

$565,000

$2,641

20%

62.1%

San

Francisco

Bay Area,

CA**

3.5%

$186,300

$1,420,000

$6,637

42.8%

21.5%

*Median home-sale price for El Paso County, Colorado, where Colorado Springs is located

**Job growth and income data is for the Bay Area as a whole; home-sale price data is for the San Francisco metro area only

To read the full report, including Redfin agent insights on what makes each metro an attractive place for software engineers to live and a list of LinkedIn job openings in each area, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/most-affordable-places-for-software-engineers.

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry's lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 85 major metro areas across the U.S. and Canada. The company has closed more than $85 billion in home sales.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, subscribe here. To view Redfin's press center, click here.

 

Cision View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/redfin-and-linkedin-reveal-the-5-best-emerging-tech-hubs-for-software-engineers-to-buy-a-home-300936205.html

SOURCE Redfin

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In: Press ReleasesReal EstateBanking/Financial ServicesPolls & ResearchResidential Real EstateSurveys
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!