Whatcom residents must work this many hours per week to buy a home, report shows
A new analysis is highlighting just how hard it is to buy a house in Whatcom County.
The analysis, done by HireAHelper, a moving assistance company, found that residents in the Bellingham metropolitan area need to work 108 hours a week to afford to purchase a home at the median home price of $632,170.
Out of 204 small metropolitan areas analyzed in the U.S., Whatcom County requires the 14th-most weekly work hours to afford a home.
The analysis assumes the worker is earning a median wage, makes a 20% down payment on the mortgage and allocates less than 30% of their monthly wage to mortgage payments.
The median annual wage for Whatcom County is $46,570, which comes out to a $22.39 hourly wage, according to the analysis. A monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home in Whatcom County is $3,140, according to the analysis.
Nationally, the number of work hours per week needed to afford a median-priced home is much lower at 62. Yet, the median annual wage is about the same at $45,760, or $22 per hour.
The main difference is the price of housing. Nationally, the median home price is $357,319 with a monthly mortgage payment of $1,775, according to the analysis.
The challenge of affordability also continues to hit renters.
It takes an hourly wage of $31.33 to be able to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment in Washington state, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2022 “Out of Reach” report.
That’s a combined 80 hours of work per week for tenants earning the minimum wage of $15.74 per hour.
Workers tend to earn more on the West Coast of the United States, but higher home prices mean that they must work more hours to afford a home. At the state level, Washington residents need to work 95 hours a week to afford to buy a median-priced home at $602,324.
How many hours per week do residents in other areas of Washington need to work to be able to afford a median-priced home?
▪ Wenatchee: 115.
▪ Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue: 99.
▪ Mount Vernon-Anacortes: 96.
▪ Vancouver: 92.
▪ Bremerton-Silverdale: 89.
▪ Olympia-Tumwater: 84.
▪ Spokane-Spokane Valley: 74.
▪ Kennewick-Richland: 72.
▪ Longview: 71.
▪ Yakima: 71.
