The Best and Worst Cities for Housing Affordability

An analysis from Yardi Matrix highlights which U.S. cities are successfully meeting the demand for affordable housing — and which are falling behind. “The analysis compared the maximum allowable rent for fully affordable units with the average advertised rent for market-rate apartments, breaking the data into four levels of apartment quality,” explains Candyd Mendoza in MPA Mag.

“One of the key challenges identified is the gap between market-rate and affordable housing in many of the country’s largest metropolitan areas, including cities like Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, and Northern New Jersey.” San Francisco’s average market-rate rent is more than $1,000 higher than the average rent for affordable housing. However, smaller markets like Wichita, Kansas, Huntsville, Alabama, and Omaha, Nebraska have market-rate rents on par with affordable units.

According to the study, challenges to affordability include supply growth limitations and the composition of housing stock in different markets. “The study noted that 69,600 new affordable units are expected to be delivered in 2024, with a peak of 70,500 units projected for 2025. But after that, a potential slowdown in new inventory after 2025 could intensify the current shortage.”