What it takes to afford a home in Denver

The Denver housing market has been great for a few years now with a continuous incline. Paralleled with that increase is the Denver job market. With the market being a seller’s market for a while now, you need to make a decent living to afford to live in Denver. You can see our previous post about Denver Housing Affordability. https://comortgage1.wpengine.com/2017/07/07/denver-housing-affordability/

Continuous incline

Many companies have opened offices in the Denver Metro and Boulder areas, which can account for the improvement in the job market. The average corporate job attracts 250 applicants. While the job market is still competitive, the unemployment rate is still steadily decreasing with the most recent number as 2.5 percent. Just looking at the tech industry, Denver ranks as part of the top 10 for highest paid tech employees. In 2016, the average tech salary was $100,258, which was 9% above the national average and a 20% growth over the previous 5 years.  Details here. Google has already increased its employees by double in the past few years and plans to build a campus in Boulder, which is sure to bring even more residents and jobs to the Denver Metro area. Read more here 

 

What do you need to make to live in Denver?

According to Business Insider, the median home price in Denver is $396,100 and monthly mortgage payment is $1,812. Which means in order to buy a home in Denver, you need to make approximately $77,500 annually. This salary may be easily achieved for couples who have dual income, or for mid-level managers. But what about the recent grads from college? What about the blue collar jobs that doesn’t pay as generously? Many residents are finding themselves with roommates, renting extra rooms via AirBnB, or with additional jobs like driving for Lyft and Uber to make ends meet.  Read more about the housing cost in the top 19 cities in America here. We thought it was interesting to include this chart from Payscale.com on how Denver compares to other major cities for cost of living.