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Miami is exceedingly rich in dozens of ways, from its breadth of cultures, wildlife, and things to do to its concentration of actual rich people. But a recently released ranking highlighted a more sobering reality.
Miami-Dade County residents are among the most house-poor in the nation.
In the neighborhoods wedged in between the glitzy high-rises, beaches, strip clubs, and luxury malls that make South Florida a world-class destination for moneybags are scores of middle-class people living paycheck to paycheck thanks to the stratospheric cost of living.
An analysis from mortgage broker Consumer Affairs has endeavored to pinpoint the most “house-poor” cities in the nation by determining the percentage of income homeowners devote to housing — expenses like mortgage, insurance, property taxes, HOA fees, and utilities.
The study was restricted to communities with populations of 175,000 or more and to residents who owned their own homes; it did not include renters (who also face steep costs compared to the rest of the U.S.).
When the numbers were crunched, three South Florida municipalities ranked among the top six.
According to conventional wisdom (which is to say most dads you ask), a household shouldn’t spend more than 30 percent of its before-tax income on housing costs. Lenders, however, typically advise people not to spend more than 28 percent, and that’s the metric Consumer Affairs employed to pinpoint the most house-poor cities in the U.S.
Hialeah emerged as No. 1 in the nation for that dubious distinction. Consumer Affairs calculated that the median Hialeah household spends a whopping 36.9 percent of its income on housing. That’s based on a median household income of $71,386 and median monthly housing costs of $2,193.
That beat out second-banana New York City (annual income $121,443, monthly housing costs $3,335), which clocked in at 33 percent.
Then come New Orleans and Los Angeles, followed by the City of Miami at No. 5 (annual income $107,481, monthly housing costs $2,893, which comes out to 32.3 percent) and the Broward County suburb of Pembroke Pines at No. 6 (annual income $103,178, monthly housing costs $2,751, or 32 percent).
With a population of 179,326, Pembroke Pines was the smallest municipality in the Top 10, which was rounded out by St. Petersburg, Honolulu, Yonkers, and Chula Vista.
