The most affordable areas for teachers to buy a home
Areas in California topped the list
Fox Business Flash top headlines for September 1
Check out what's clicking on FoxBusiness.com.
California was home to the five most affordable metros for teachers to purchase a house in 2020, according to a new report from Redfin.
Overall, Merced, Fresno, Riverside, Modesto and Bakersfield were dubbed the most affordable areas following an analysis of median disposable incomes for teachers across 157 metropolitan areas around the nation, according to the real estate brokerage.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Merced, though, gave teachers the most freedom when it came to spending. In 2020, the median salary for a teacher in Merced was $99,637. That, coupled with a median annual homeownership cost of $35,051, meant teachers had a median disposable income of $64,586, according to the report.
Unfortunately, experts say things are shifting fast in the area.
"The presence of UC Merced and the area's affordability relative to other major California metros" is making the area more expensive each year, Debbie Engel, a Keller Williams real estate agent and Redfin partner agent, said.
According to Redfin, the area was also reported as the most affordable for teachers to rent in 2020 as well. With the median annual rental cost of $31,635 and a median teacher salary of $99,637, teachers had a median disposable income of $68,002 – slightly higher than if they had purchased a home.
Fresno is next on the list as the second most affordable place for teachers to buy a home, although teacher's median disposable income dropped by $10,000 to about $54,510. Last year, the median salary for a teacher in Fresno was about $89,170 while the median annual homeownership cost was about $34,659.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
Riverside, Modest and Bakersfield round out the top five cheapest metros giving teachers median disposable incomes of about $51,105, $50,950 and $50,931, respectively.
Meanwhile, the most expensive metro for teachers compared to all 157 metros in the analysis also happened to be in California.
In San Jose, the median salary for a teacher in 2020 was $90,314 and the median annual homeownership cost was $87,612. This means teachers were left with just under $3,000.
Right behind San Jose was Kahului, Hawaii; St. George, Utah; Salinas, California; and Flagstaff, Arizona.