Wicked Expensive: Boston residents need $78K salary to afford rent, study says

BOSTON — We all know Boston is an expensive place to live, and people who can’t afford it feel as though they’re being squeezed out of the city.

Boston is so expensive that unless you’re making at least $78,000 a year, you’re going to need a roommate.

That information comes from Nestpick, an apartment search engine with a study profiled in Boston Magazine.

The study says that Bostonians earning the median United States salary have to spend 51 percent of their income to live without roommates.

Most financial experts recommend that housing should not exceed 30 percent of your salary, but that's hard to swing in a city Nestpick called the third-most expensive city for single-capacity apartments.

The cost of living in Boston proper has been a concern for Mayor Marty Walsh, who pledged to make the city a more livable city for the middle class.

But according to an opinion piece from the Boston Globe, that may not be possible.

The article pointed out that Boston real estate averages $681 per square foot.

Just outside the city it’s only $263.

All this demand and expense for a city Nestpick ranks on its site as 79th in the world for best placed to live for young people.

Cox Media Group