Lucky me, Seattle is named as the most overpriced city by Forbes. The research, which rank 150 cities on job growth, income growth, cost of living and house affordability, concludes the following 10 cities as the most overpriced ones:
1. Seattle
2. Bergen-Passaic, N.J.
3. Miami
4. Portland, Ore.
5. Middlesex, N.J.
6. San Jose, Calif.
7. San Francisco
8. Chicago
9. New York
10. Jersey City, N.J.
Seattle, which is labeled as one of the bottom two in the income growth category, also ranks in the bottom 30 for job growth, cost of living and house affordability. Forbes gave the following comments to Seattle:
"Seattle. The Seattle metro area is home to some of the largest American corporations (such as Boeing and Microsoft), but that doesn't mean that the cost of living and housing are proportionate to the job and income growth in the area. The Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County argues that there's a reason for the high housing costs -- mainly because roughly 25% of local residents are in either professional or managerial positions."
Living in Seattle suburb (which we call "East Side"), I actually don't feel too bad. Yes, the median house price is almost doubling the national average, but we are talking about a hilly coastal area with less and less land for new constructions. It's also true that the recent problems at Boeing are dragging the local economy, but overall, it's still business as usual. As a matter of fact, I'm quite positive that Microsoft can continue to produce thousands of high-paying jobs and help to stablize the economy.
If you are seriously considering moving, this list does not mean you should not consider Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago or New York. One more reason for this: the list is only valid on a general basis; your individual situation can be way different. If you can get a big paycheck and good benefits, why do you need to discredit the city just because a Forbes report?
(P.S. Unfortunately, even if you go to Forbes' own site, you cannot find out the entire list of 150 cities. But if your town is not in the Top 10 list, you have enough reason to be happen, isn't it?)
