Getting Bang for Your Buck- Not in DC Unfortunately...

Daily Real Estate News October 15, 2008
Cities Where Your Dollar Goes Furthest

Money goes further some places in the United States than it does in others. Housing, in particular, has remained most affordable in the South and the Midwest. That’s because of less stringent building, an abundance of land and growing populations in the South, says Daniel McCue, a research analyst at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.To determine the cities that offer the best quality of life for the least amount of money, Forbes magazine calculated the ratios between a city’s median home price and its median household income. It also factored in projected job growth. And it compared median income to Moody’s Economy.com’s cost of living index. Here are the 10 cities that it found to offer the best value, and the cities that it believes offers the worst value.

Cities Where Residents Get the Most for Their Money
Austin, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
Indianapolis, Ind.
Houston, Texas
Charlotte, N.C.
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Denver
Portland, Ore.

Cities Where Residents Get the Least for Their Money
Los Angeles
Providence, R.I.
New Orleans
Philadelphia
Cleveland
New York
Milwaukee, Wisc.
St. Louis, Mo.
Washington, D.C.
Sacramento, Calif.

Source: Forbes, Abha Bhattarai (10/10/2008)

I thought these lists were very interesting... who knew Providence residents were getting shorted? I am not surprised to see DC on the "bad" list since Real Estate here is very expensive and many people earn government salaries. Regardless, DC has more free entertainment than any other city that I've ever visited. I spent Columbus Day weekend in New York and after paying a $20 entry fee to get into the Met I was reminded just how lucky DC residents are to have such amazing museums and historic landmarks that are all free of charge. Being grateful for all that DC has to offer (such as a clean metro system) may help you put things into perspective the next time you write your huge rent check or mortgage payment!