
Homeownership is more than a dream for software engineers in these major U.S. metros New insights from LinkedIn and Redfin show where software engineers can afford to buy a home Published on Oct 10, 2019
Jenny Ying
Economist and Data Scientist, Economic Graph
Share
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
The idea of affordable housing and San Francisco are about as compatible as oil and water. Despite tech's insatiable appetite for software engineering talent driving median salaries to nearly $200,000 a year, it remains nearly impossible for people to afford to purchase a home in a market where the median prices have reached nearly $1,400,000.
For those that want to purchase their own slice of the American Dream, there is hope. New data from LinkedIn and Redfin - the technology-powered real estate brokerage - shows that Charlotte, North Carolina and Buffalo, New York have emerged as two hidden gem locations for those who want to grow their careers as software engineers and purchase property they can call home.
According to the data, instead of devoting more than 40% of their salary to pay for a home in San Francisco, software engineers in Buffalo will find that housing costs account for approximately 13% of their income on mortgage payments. Similarly, Charlotte-based engineers will only have to earmark 18.9% of their salaries to pay for a home. At the same time while job growth in San Francisco is strong at 3.5%, the job growth and opportunities in Charlotte and Buffalo for software engineers remain very healthy at 4.1% respectively.
Here is a snapshot of the key findings from the joint report:
Metros with strong job growth and affordable housing for software engineers
Swipe
U.S. Metro YoY talent pool growth for software engineers Median income for software engineer Median home-sale price Monthly housing payment for median-priced home Percentage of income necessary to afford median-priced home Share of affordable homes for sale
Charlotte, NC 4.1% $80,000 $269,000 $1,257 18.9% 62.9%
Buffalo, NY 4.1% $71,500 $170,000 $795 13.3% 76.3%
Grand Rapids, MI 3.7% $70,000 $217,000 $1,014 17.4% 64.7%
Colorado Springs, CO 3.4% $87,000 $320,000* $1,496 20.6% 52.6%
Columbus, OH 3.1% $76,500 $229,000 $1,070 16.8% 60.7%
Seattle, WA 5.4% $157,600 $565,000 $2,641 20% 62.1%
San Francisco Bay Area, CA** 3.5% $186,300 $1,420,000 $6,637 42.8% 21.5%
*Median home-sale price for El Paso County, Colorado, where Colorado Springs is located
**Talent pool growth and income data is for the Bay Area as a whole; home-sale price data is for the San Francisco metro area only
Methodology:
This analysis was created by identifying median salaries and talent pool job growth for software engineers in 20+ U.S. cities over a one year period (January 2018 - January 2019) using LinkedIn data. We measure talent pool growth by comparing the number of LinkedIn members holding a software engineer position in each city in January 2018 and January 2019 while taking into account overall growth among LinkedIn members in the city.
Housing affordability in each metro is based on Redfin data from sales in July 2019. We calculated the total monthly housing payment based on a mortgage interest rate of 3.82% and a property tax rate of 1.125%, then multiplied the monthly housing payment by 12 months to determine the annual housing payment. To determine whether a software engineer's salary is sufficiently high to afford a median-priced home in a certain metro area, we used the rule that homes are affordable only if they cost less than 30 percent of gross income.
The share of homes for sale affordable on a software engineer's salary in each metro is based on data from Redfin's housing affordability dashboard, which allows users to quickly understand how affordable homes are in a given area and compare affordability among different parts of the U.S. To calculate affordability, the dashboard takes into account household income, down payment percentage, mortgage interest rate, mortgage length and property type. For this report, we used a 20% down payment, 30-year mortgage and 3.82% mortgage rate. You can check out the housing affordability calculator in the Redfin Data Center.
Most recent headlines
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....
12/03/2025
Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
High-capacity switch enhances existi...
12/03/2025
DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...
12/03/2025
SVT Leverages Ateliere Live to Pioneer 100% Software-Defined Production at Rally...
12/03/2025
Berklee Awards Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant to Four Organizations A total of $17,000 will be distributed among the Boston-based nonprofits.
By
Madd...
12/03/2025
TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a you...
12/03/2025
The new process has significantly enhanced operational efficiencies, with automation freeing up creators to concentrate on higher value tasks
By Matthew Corrig...
12/03/2025
Jellyfish Pictures, which has offices in London and Sheffield, said it has been battling hard in the face of strong headwinds over the last 12 months
By Jenny ...
12/03/2025
Visit Booth #W2213 to Experience the Latest in AI-Driven Content Discovery and Workflow Automation
Bitcentral, a leader in media workflow solutions, is set to ...
12/03/2025
CHICAGO Jeff Lilly has been named WGN-TV director of technology effective March 17, 2025, according to Ric Harris, WGN-TV vice president and general manager....
12/03/2025
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. A new study from LG Ad Solutions indicates that consumers want more features that would allow them to shop for products on the connected T...
12/03/2025
BOTHELL, Wash. The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the Video Services Forum (VSF) will once again present...
12/03/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast announced that it has upgraded Xfinity Internet speeds for more than 20 million customers for no additional cost....
12/03/2025
Create with Maxon: Cinema 4D Fundamentals Workshop - March 12-14
Brie Clayton March 11, 2025
0 Comments
Makin' Waffles with Elly Wade
During Marc...
12/03/2025
Ottawa, Canada - March 12, 2025 - Ross Video is pleased to announce the appointment of Aaron Tunnell as Business Development Director, Cloud Solutions, reinforc...
12/03/2025
12 Mar 2025
VEON to release 4Q 2024 trading update on 20 March 2025 Dubai, 12 March 2025 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a global digital operator, today confirms ...
12/03/2025
Getting set for the Winter Olympics: Inside SVT's ongoing software-based pro...
12/03/2025
THE PLAYERS Championship 2025: AI Commentary, Shared-Reality Viewing at COSM, La...
12/03/2025
Seamless SMPTE 2110: A Discussion on Making the Move to IP Less Painful Leaders from Netflix, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, LinkedI, and Megapixel address ...
12/03/2025
Opening Doors of Perception: Meta's Ajit Ninan on Rethinking AR/MR Perceptua...
12/03/2025
With the 2025 Formula 1 season set to begin in Melbourne on March 16, Sky Sports is gearing up to deliver its most comprehensive F1 coverage yet. Following a th...
12/03/2025
Unicanal and Trece TV revolutionize Digital TV in Paraguay with Rohde & Schwarz ...
12/03/2025
Honoring Service, Celebrating Sport: Rohde & Schwarz UK Sponsors NavyFit Rugby D...
12/03/2025
New HVS-Q12 Represents a Quantum Leap in Switcher Design...
12/03/2025
Telespazio and ABS Expand Partnership to Deliver Tailored C-Band Connectivity So...
12/03/2025
ABC conducts independent audits across the TAG programs. In the March 2025 TAG s...
12/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Moonlight: ESA program to create a satellite con...
12/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
In 2025, Thales ranks among the top 0.01% of the...
12/03/2025
Consumer show back following hugely successful first series
10 March 2025 Following a hugely successful first series, The Complaints Bureau returns to RT ...
11/03/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
11/03/2025
Salsa is making a comeback, captivating new listeners with its infectious energy...
11/03/2025
For many people, music can serve as a reflection of their roots and upbringing. ...
11/03/2025
The solution delivers reliable, scalable and secure connectivity for critical pu...
11/03/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced that Weigel Broadcasting has deployed Harmonics VOS Media Software, which offers playout-to-delivery capabilities, inclu...