A strong job market is essential for a strong housing market, and by that measure San Francisco is in an enviable position.
NerdWallet, a financial information website, this week ranked San Francisco the third-best city for job seekers, behind Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C. The website based its rankings on income, cost of living, the unemployment rate, and population growth.
It noted that San Francisco’s high median household income (No. 2 at $72,947) offsets the city’s high cost of living.
“With Silicon Valley nearby, San Francisco has become a tech hub in recent years, and its population growth indicates the city is home to many transplants,” NerdWallet said. “Tech and tourism dominate the job market in San Francisco, and tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yelp, and Dropbox are located in or just outside the city.”
The job-seeker rankings were based on income, cost of living, the unemployment rate, and population growth.
NerdWallet also recently ranked San Francisco the 10th best city for recent college graduates, citing its “walkable layout and great social scene,” and the fourth most expensive city.
The site produced the rankings with its new City Life Tool, available online, which provides extensive demographic profiles of 26 of the nation’s largest cities based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Council for Community and Economic Research, and other sources.
Housing characteristics from the City Life Tool reveal the following:
- At $813,600, San Francisco has the second-highest home prices among the 26 cities, comparing median prices for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home. New York-Manhattan was No. 1 at $1.3 million.
- Monthly rental rates here ($2,702) are the third-highest in the nation. New York-Manhattan was No. 1, at $4,088, and Honolulu was No. 2 at $2,723.
- San Francisco is near the bottom, 24th, for the rate of home ownership — 37 percent.
- The average mortgage plus interest is $2,996 in San Francisco, exceeded only by New York-Manhattan ($4,387).
In other areas, San Francisco placed eighth for average price for a gallon of milk ($2.25), fourth for average cost of a six-pack of Heineken beer ($9.14), second for percent of population with a bachelor’s degree (51 percent), and sixth for bars per 1,000 people (0.72).
(San Francisco photo courtesy Jondoeforty1, via Flickr.)