Miami Is One of the Worst Places for a Recent College Grad

It's May. Hundreds of thousands of students have recently put on ugly polyester gowns, marched up onstage, shalen some hands, grabbed a diploma, and officially entered the real world. They're on the lookout for jobs now, and there's probably more than a few looking to take their talents to the 305. But be warned, kids. Miami is a really expensive place to live. In fact, according to a new Trulia analysis, Miami is the fourth most unaffordable city in the country for a recent college graduate. 

Looking at the 25 largest rental markets, Trulia compared the average income for a new college graduate to the average rent for an apartment in each city. 

Turns out the median income for a fresh college graduate in Miami is only $25,778. The median rent, however, is $2,200, meaning a person would need to make about a $86,285 a year to afford it. People earning around $25,000 should be shelling out only about $666 a month for rent. Yes, it's very devilish indeed.

Only about 0.4 percent of Miami apartments in Trulia's real estate database would be affordable for a recent grad to live in alone. Granted, not all apartments for rent in Miami are tracked by services like Trulia. There's an entire market of apartments that can be found only through Craigslist, word of mouth, or happening upon a "for rent" sign, usually in smaller buildings owned by individuals. Though many of those owners, especially in neighborhoods like Edgewater, are increasingly selling their land to developers for big profits or jacking up rents due to demand. In other words, good luck with that approach. 

The analysis found that about 2.3 recent grads would need to band together to afford the median rent in Miami, and that could lead to situations where two people share a bedroom since the median number of bedrooms available in a Miami apartment is just two. 

So, when comparing the average income to the average rent, Miami is the fourth least affordable market in America for recent grads, behind only Portland, San Bernardino, and Orange County, California. 

St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix were the top five most affordable cities for recent graduates.