Grad Advice
These Texas cities are among the 5 most affordable for college grads
Now that the school year is over, millions of recent graduates are looking for jobs and places to live, and according to a new study, two Texas cities are among the country's most affordable places for them to live.
Real estate website Trulia found that Dallas and Houston are within the top five most affordable rental markets for recent grads.
To conduct the study, Trulia started with the 25 largest rental markets in the U.S. Trulia then looked at the portion of rental homes on the site within financial reach of employed college graduates between the ages of 22 and 25 as of May 7. The standard for affordability is whether the total monthly payment, including rental payment and insurance, equals less than 31 percent of the metro area's median income for recent grads.
In Dallas, No. 2, 14.9 percent of rental units are affordable to recent grads. The maximum affordable rent there is $799. In Houston, No. 3, 10.4 percent of rental units are affordable to recent grads. The maximum monthly rent considered affordable for recent grads is $746.
According to the study, renters in Houston and Dallas might still need a roommate to make the median rental affordable. But that's better than New York, Miami and Los Angeles, where it would take as many as three roommates to make the median rent affordable.
No. 1 on the list is St. Louis, where 18.6 percent of rental units are affordable to that demographic, with a maximum affordable monthly rent payment of $666. Atlanta and Phoenix came in at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
The most expensive cities for college grads are Portland, southern California locales (Riverside-San Bernardino, Orange County and San Diego) and Miami.