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Report: Only 12% Of Astronauts Could Afford A House In L.A.
Maybe you could afford this? (Photo by Kevin via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
A report breaks down L.A.'s housing prices based on what professions could likely afford—or not afford—them. You might be surprised how few astronauts that includes. It's not news that it's expensive to buy a home in Los Angeles, but a report from real estate site Estately helps to put into perspective just how difficult affording a home here is. Estately kept track of home prices over the past six months, and paired them with the average salaries for six different jobs according to data found via Glassdoor. Then, they figured out what percentage of employees in each of those fields could afford a home in L.A.
We've got restaurant waitstaff at the lower end of the earning spectrum, doctors at the highest, and firefighters, teachers, astronauts and computer programmers in the middle.
The report finds that a majority of doctors—76%—can afford their own home, while a mere 2% of firefighters, 3% of teachers and 12% of astronauts are liable to call themselves homeowners in Los Angeles. Sadly, waitstaff seem to be stuck in renter's purgatory forever here.
Those who work in restaurants probably can't buy a house here (Photo via Estately)
In other cities, lower earning staff fare far better. For instance, nearly all teachers could afford a home in Detroit, while a majority of teachers could afford a home in St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago and Atlanta. Seattle and San Francisco continue to be tough markets. Notably, 41% of doctors are considered well-off enough to own a home in San Francisco. See how we match up to other cities here.
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