Surprising Central Texas city boasts No. 1 U.S. housing market for first-time buyers

If there’s one thing nearly all renters can agree on, it’s the collective disdain for rising rent prices. Every year is an ongoing battle for affordability, and Austin renters already understand what it’s like to live in an expensive city with a dwindling quality of life.

However, there is some solace in knowing that average rent prices in Austin are more than $400 lower than the nearly $2,000 national average. That’s according to a recent income-to-rent study by business experts Chamber of Commerce.

The median annual income of an Austin resident is $65,567, the study says, which is $1,767 higher than what they would need to earn to afford the rent for a one-bedroom apartment. A local would need to make $63,800 a year to afford the median monthly rent, which amounts to $1,595.

Austin is not within the top 30 places with highest rents or income-rent gaps on the overall list of 120 U.S. cities.

In comparison, the study says, New York City has the highest rent in the country. Median rent costs $3,495 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, meaning that a New Yorker would need to make nearly $140,000 a year to afford it. According to the study’s data, a New Yorker’s median income sits at $65,317. But Miami has a larger gap, needing to make $120,000 instead of the actual median of $41,287.

The study used a 30 percent income-to-rent ratio to determine what a resident would need to make to afford their rent without using more than that recommended amount of their income.

The study’s findings speak to a bigger problem of housing affordability and availability around the nation.

“Factors such as a lack of housing inventory and high mortgage rates have driven up rental costs across the country, which has left renters with limited options when it comes to finding affordable housing,” the study’s author said.

Elsewhere in Central Texas, someone living in San Antonio would only need to make $41,960 a year to afford the $1,049 median monthly rent for their one bedroom apartment. San Antonio has one of the lowest rent prices out of all Texas cities listed in the study, and ranked No. 92 overall.

Unsurprisingly, California cities dominate the top 10 most expensive cities on the list.

The top 10 cities with the highest incomes needed to afford rent are:

• No. 1 – New York City, New York
• No. 2 – Miami, Florida
• No. 3 – San Francisco, California
• No. 4 – Irvine, California
• No. 5 – Boston, Massachusetts
• No. 6 – Jersey City, New Jersey
• No. 7 – San Diego, California
• No. 8 – Fremont, California
• No. 9 – San Jose, California
• No. 10 – Santa Clarita, California

Data for Chamber of Commerce’s study was found using the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Zillow, and Zumper.