I haven’t had an apartment in 20 years, and while I am not defending price increases because it does feel like they are pretty high, apartments now are *MUCH* nicer than they were 20 years ago.
Quartz counters, stainless steel high end appliances, hardwood floors, amazing amenities, better layouts, etc, etc.
I am looking at the nicer 3-5k a month ones, but still, I have a house I bought 5 years ago for $525K in the ‘burbs (now worth like $650K or so) and in every single way but square footage, the apartments are nicer than my house.
My house costs me $2500/month mortgage because I got a 2.25% VA loan with no money down, and do not have to pay $800 or so a month in property taxes (disabled veteran). I’m still looking at $4k/month apartments as an upgrade.
Is average the only and best way for us to collect? I only ask because I only ever see “average” when talking about cost. It always feels weird when we compare average rent, average hourly wage, and then throw in median full time wage.
Shouldn’t we just be looking strictly at median for everything to get a more accurate picture?
Oh look they started diverging in the Great Recession when a bunch of individual homeowners lost their houses to investment groups who could monopolize the local rental market to the point of setting higher rents.
This just in: water is wet
Well, it is exacrly what happens when you can’t build.
Punitively tax SFH landlords based on the rent they charge. Until you attack their ability to profit from the disconnect between fair market value, and the real economic value of housing, the value of profiting from this disconnect will cause rents to always outpacing the demand of earnings.
Not to shoot this down completely, but worth noting:
* Large majority (65%) of people in the US own homes and don’t rent, so this is essentially irrelevant. Changes in housing prices [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS) are actually lower than wage increases.
* The population that is renting changes constantly and can’t be compared directly to the “median” person
* Regional breakdowns are more interesting than this data as it is heavily skewed – rapidly accelerating rents is mostly a phenomenon of the Northeast Corridor and a couple West Coast towns.
Oh man we would kill for those numbers in Canada, it’s about 50% higher for rent as opposed to wages.
Interesting. I thought the difference would be much bigger, ofc with rent raising much faster than wages.
It has grown, yes, but not in the same pace as the gap with university costs, or actual house prices.
Not by very much, apparently.
You shall own nothing and be happy about it. [0.1%]
![[OC] Rent has grown more than wages in the US in the last 20 years](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/7fkg6w5lesnf1-1240x1024.png)
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* Median usual weekly earnings (LES1252881500Q): [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881500Q](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881500Q?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
* Consumer Price Index for Rent of Primary Residence (CUUR0000SEHA): [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
* Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003): [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003)
Datawrapper was used.
So has the population due to mass immigration
I thought I blocked this sub.
I haven’t had an apartment in 20 years, and while I am not defending price increases because it does feel like they are pretty high, apartments now are *MUCH* nicer than they were 20 years ago.
Quartz counters, stainless steel high end appliances, hardwood floors, amazing amenities, better layouts, etc, etc.
I am looking at the nicer 3-5k a month ones, but still, I have a house I bought 5 years ago for $525K in the ‘burbs (now worth like $650K or so) and in every single way but square footage, the apartments are nicer than my house.
My house costs me $2500/month mortgage because I got a 2.25% VA loan with no money down, and do not have to pay $800 or so a month in property taxes (disabled veteran). I’m still looking at $4k/month apartments as an upgrade.
Is average the only and best way for us to collect? I only ask because I only ever see “average” when talking about cost. It always feels weird when we compare average rent, average hourly wage, and then throw in median full time wage.
Shouldn’t we just be looking strictly at median for everything to get a more accurate picture?
Oh look they started diverging in the Great Recession when a bunch of individual homeowners lost their houses to investment groups who could monopolize the local rental market to the point of setting higher rents.
This just in: water is wet
Well, it is exacrly what happens when you can’t build.
Punitively tax SFH landlords based on the rent they charge. Until you attack their ability to profit from the disconnect between fair market value, and the real economic value of housing, the value of profiting from this disconnect will cause rents to always outpacing the demand of earnings.
Not to shoot this down completely, but worth noting:
* Large majority (65%) of people in the US own homes and don’t rent, so this is essentially irrelevant. Changes in housing prices [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS) are actually lower than wage increases.
* The population that is renting changes constantly and can’t be compared directly to the “median” person
* Regional breakdowns are more interesting than this data as it is heavily skewed – rapidly accelerating rents is mostly a phenomenon of the Northeast Corridor and a couple West Coast towns.
Oh man we would kill for those numbers in Canada, it’s about 50% higher for rent as opposed to wages.
Interesting. I thought the difference would be much bigger, ofc with rent raising much faster than wages.
It has grown, yes, but not in the same pace as the gap with university costs, or actual house prices.
Not by very much, apparently.
You shall own nothing and be happy about it. [0.1%]
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