Where Can Construction Workers Buy Homes?

St. Louis is the most affordable housing market for construction workers, Redfin reports.

In St. Louis, 67.3% of homes for sale are affordable for the median income of construction workers in the area. The Midwestern city is followed by Cleveland (64.7%) and Chicago (62.5%).

At the other end of the spectrum, a typical construction worker would find it near impossible to find a home they could afford to buy in any major California metro. In San Jose, almost none of the homes for sale—just 0.1 percent—are affordable on a local construction worker’s median income, making it the least affordable metro for construction workers, followed by San Diego (1.5%) and San Francisco (1.8%).

Partly due to a lack of inventory, median sale prices in many parts of the state are sky high, clocking in at more than $1 million in San Jose and San Francisco. The catch-22 is that the people who build homes can’t afford to live where housing supply is needed most.

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