12 Cities Normal Humans Can Afford & 10 They Can't
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 พ.ย. 2023
- If you're wealthy, you can live in any city you want. But even if you live in an expensive city, that city relies on people who make minimum wage -- or close to it -- to function. So which cities are most affordable for the people who make it run, and which are the least? Let's find out.
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Previous CityNerd Videos Referenced:
- Pedestrian Nightmare Interchanges: • Traffic Engineers Gone...
- The 10 Worst State Capitals: • Let's Shame the Awful ...
- The 10 Most Affordable Zip Codes: • 10 Affordable Zip Code...
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Resources:
- Minimum Wage Interactive Tool from teh Economic Policy Institute: www.epi.org/minimum-wage-trac...
- www.walkscore.com/
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
- politicsofpoverty.oxfamameric...
- meric.mo.gov/data/cost-living...
- www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-prov...
- www.cnbc.com/2021/07/14/how-m...
- money.com/rent-30-percent-inc...
- www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...
- www.fool.com/the-ascent/mortg...
- walletgenius.com/home-ownersh...
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...
- www.al.com/news/birmingham/20...
- www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/b...
- www.al.com/news/birmingham/20...
- www.oregonmetro.gov/urban-and...
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ham...
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Images
- Guild 45th By Joe Mabel, CC BY 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Walmart Cashier By Mike Mozart - www.flickr.com/photos/jeepers..., CC BY 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Daycare by Flickr User Kids Work Chicago Daycare www.flickr.com/photos/1304195... creativecommons.org/licenses/...
- Dishwasher By Khalid Mahmood - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Taco Bell By Anthony92931 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- Supply-demand curve By SilverStar, CC BY 2.5, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
- CGoing Out of Business by Flickr user Marius Waltz www.flickr.com/photos/watz/47... creativecommons.org/licenses/...
- Unemployment office by Flickr user Bytemarks www.flickr.com/photos/bytemar... creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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Also, if everyone who watches this video moves to Buckeye, Arizona, we can run the place. Just saying
@@CityNerd Is this the new version of "my suscribers fill this stadium", "the estimated viewership of this video could take over X town"?
Agreed, youtube comments are dumb.
I was on the front lines of the issue in both Seattle and NYC (ie, homeless). Minimum wage is good in theory, but nearly pointless in practice.
One reason is that options for the poor are often "off the books" construction/landscaping etc. Not every job has a little clock-in machine like a McDonald's.
And of course, as you mentioned, min. wage is often so low that no sane person would accept the job in the first place.
Another reason is migrant labor, which completely circumvents min. wage laws. Migrant labor itself is fine, but it's unfair to Americans who pay U.S. prices, while migrants send their income back home (where the dollar goes much further).
And the whole "migrants do jobs Americans don't want" argument is misleading bs. Americans do want those jobs... but they want a fair wage for it.
PS_ I'm not ranting against migrants, and in fact I'm pro-migrant. But I'm also pro-fairness, and citizens should take precedence. That doesn't mean we shouldn't welcome migrants or support other countries, it means first and foremost, we are responsible for our own citizenry.
Any chance we could get an Excel or Google sheet with the data to look through/play around with?
Fun fact in the initial minimum wage bill in the US the minimum wage was to be set at quote "the hourly rate that would allow a full time working man to support himself, his wife, and two children" end quote
Whoa. I grew up in Elgin. That said the main language is Spanish so brush up if you move there
@@parkmannate4154 ¿Cómo se dice non sequitur en inglés?
Wow. That was before the rise of white collar/educated work and the rise of cost of living. Back then a worker was a worker. Everyone was equally broke lol. Now we have much more opportunity and more stratification. Pros and cons to both but it’s nice knowing I can do better than basic manual labor and get a better standard of living for it.
Now most families have two people working.
@@yungrichnbroke5199 Are you suggesting that people earning a subsistence living are preventing others from getting higher paying jobs? Do you think that most people want subsistence wage jobs, and don’t strive for more?
Chris Rock:
“You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? "Hey if I could pay you less, I would, but it's against the law.”
Or he could be saying that if you were worth more I would pay you more. Flipping burgers is not of critical importance in a society. Want more money? Get better qualifications.
@@michaelphillips2079 Said like someone who's never worked a service job in their life.
@@michaelphillips2079 In my city, the median home price is like $1.1 million, minimum wage is $12/hr, and EMTs make like $19/hr, which is about what burger-flippers make too if they work at a sit-down restaurant. I used to make close to six figures waiting tables and bartending. Now I teach, and only make a little more than the EMTs but I do it because it's "fulfilling," whatever that means, and I get to put my ridiculously expensive degree to work.
But putting all that aside for a minute, in your world where somebody's worth to society is tied to their wage (as if finance bros ever did anything for anybody lmao), if all the burger flippers decided to better their station in life, who's going to flip your burgers? Didn't think about that, did you, slick? If the job is necessary, it should pay a wage somebody can live off of. If it's not necessary, then why tf should it exist in the first place?
@@michaelphillips2079 The most significant attributes for some business owners are pomposity and misanthropy. Perhaps business owners that can not pay a livable wage are not of critical importance. Maybe they should change their business model, accept less profit, or work for someone else.
@@michaelphillips2079 people say this until they want a burger and can't get one because all the burger flippers quit.
NYC having a lower minimum wage than the much cheaper Chicago is a travesty
At the same time, NYC residents also don't tend to drive a lot, or at all
@@Demopans5990 Chicago residents don't either
@@ericandbeethoven agreed, lived in Rodgers park for a few years, paid 600/month for my share of a 2 bed/1 bath. Not a single one of my friends had a car, and it was never a problem.
True, though the de facto minimum is closer to $20. Most entry level jobs at fast food places or grocery stores start around there plus benefits.
Kinda surprised Buffalo didn't make the affordable list. It's pretty cheap and the minimum wage is $14.20.
My daughter is a graduate student at U of Wisconsin in Madison. She lives in one of the city's many cooperatives and pays $800 per month, which includes community food in exchange for labor. She ironically discovered cooperatives when she was an undergrad in Cambridge and couldn't afford anything else. Would you consider doing a dedicated video on cooperatives? Gen Z seems to have figured out a means of remaining in expensive places that the rest of us might benefit from. Thanks for considering.
This!! I was in a student coop in Los Angeles a couple of years ago. Rent plus food was only 700 dollars with some weekly chores!
cities with the best coops and farmer's markets would be a fun video! living in Seattle there are so many options for both.
This is true! Hundreds of students and young professionals live in Madison's housing co-ops paying around $600/mo (including food and utilities). Great option if you are looking for a safer space and you're willing to put some work towards communal living.
Madison is great and there's a lot of opportunity to change for the better.
Also a video on planned communities or government housing would be interesting.
The housing crisis (and more broadly the cost-of-living crisis) is a national catastrophe and I'm astounded politicians aren't making hay about it. Any politician who runs on this as their primary issue and offers real solutions is going to do very well, especially with people under 40.
I visited my mom's teenage neighborhood, and it was walkable, with a nice park, and very affordable (single family homes for $140,000). The large factory in the city seemed to be doing well. And there are two trains a day to Chicago. But it's a smaller city. The increased demand for housing seems to be particularly 13:18 in the larger cities, which have long been quite expensive around the world (though that's accelerating with the increased demand). You can find affordable housing, even in a place with jobs and with trains to larger cities. It's just in the smaller cities that many in the previous generations lived in, not the very large ones that the current generation prefers. Nothing wrong with wanting to live in NYC, or London UK. But it's worth acknowledging that this isn't where previous generations lived affordably, so if you want to make those places affordable, it's on the generation that wants to live there (until they don't, maybe when their kids aren't small anymore).
The electoral base tends to skew older and wealthier, and with many americans treating their homes as piggy banks who want to sell their homes they purchased decades ago on the cheap for mansion prices, those are the people more active in local politics, and they are the ones who try to protect the monopolistic housing market.
@@tonywalters7298 Based. You must not be in Government Policy....👍👍👌👌
@@tonywalters7298completely correct. The boomers, who constitute most of the nimby population, is the greatest reason why our politics suck.
It's called inflation. It came because people under 40 wanted to "stay home" in 2020 and spend created money from their "stimi checks".
Now you are paying the piper with high interest rates and higher prices, but want to play like "boomers" are victimizing you.
I feel like this list should have taken into account transportation cost - if you're in Seattle, you can spend more on rent because you're not spending on a car, but if you're in Peoria you almost certainly absolutely need a car.
the only one i feel like you could live without a car on the cheap list is elgin, possible to get around a good part of the city by bike but outside of the metra connection transit is pretty poor
This is a thing that City Nerd actually helped me realize, with his breakdowns of how expensive car ownership is (and how much MORE expensive it should be, if our policies didn't favor cars so heavily). Even assuming you don't pay for parking, the purchase price of your car, the insurance, maintenance, gas, etc is many times more than the price of a bike or transit pass, freeing up all that extra money for other costs - sure, higher rent becomes more affordable, but so does just enjoying life in your city.
Utilities would be interesting too. Arizona means paying more for air conditioning. San Diego means $300/month SDG&E bills.
Not trying to be contrarian, but saying you don’t need a car in Seattle is quite generous. If you are going anywhere outside of the most urban core a car is definitely still the preferred way to get around.
@@ficus3929 I mean, I can certainly understand _wanting_ a car, but most of my friends (including myself) do not own cars. Certainly, some of the more well-off friends have one car between a couple, but it's also definitely not even close to necessary.
This is very useful. Thanks so much!
I love you Mr. Zonday
I see you on an insane variety of videos I watch. You are clearly a fellow man of culture
@@Trenz0 I mean indeed he is. Just listen to Chocolate Rain. He really was speaking real shit on it, even though it was a meme. But it is so interesting seeing him watch all these under-the-radar channels that really advocate for change like CityNerd, RMTransit, etc. Hopefully Tay goes viral again and gets their word out to the masses lol
CHOCOLATE RAIN GUY!!!???? OMGGGGG
Man, you're becoming the new avery the cuban american
Spent like 10 minutes exploring Carmel, Indiana on street view after watching this. What a truly bizarre city. Looks like some sort of Cities Skylines playthrough gone wrong.
I gather the goal was to not be just another suburb. I think Carmel has succeeded at that, for better or worse.
CNBC did a report on roundabouts and featured Carmel and its mayor who is apparently a big fan.
Been there a few times. Nice but weird and crazy expensive. I'll pass on IN as a whole as more or less a fly over / drive through state.
I work there and do a lot of driving for work. I hated the roundabouts at first but they have grown on me. It is so nice never having to stop at a light.
You're gonna hate this, but the DoL allows employers to pay subminimum wage if you have a disability. It's called 14(c) and I think it causes these workers to make an average of $3.35/hr. Truly inhumane.
Me, while watching many of the recent videos: "I feel like Madison should be talked about more."
CityNerd: Madison makes Bottom 10 in this video
Me: "No, not like that."
Bottom 10 WITH PREJUDICE: your giant university doesn't count and no further questions! Guess someone from Madison was real obnoxious on his meeds.
I think the percentage of jobs in the city that are minimum wage would be an important metric. I live in a $7.25/hr city, but I can't recall the last time I saw a $7.25 job advertised.
This is a great point…and I’d also like to see this metric. I live in an affordable Midwest city, in a state with $10.45 minimum wage, and most fast food jobs I see listed (usually on their own marquee) are in the $13-$15 range.
@@MohondasK Try looking at hotel jobs or agricultural jobs, those are more likely to be at minimum wage.
This is why it’s almost entirely pointless metric to go by when people complain about what the minimum wage is… almost every place I’ve been to in the country has starting pay at at least $14-$15, even places with insanely low cost of living, regardless of what the state or federal minimum wage is.
@noseboop4354 looked for hotel jobs on Austin, and most are starting at 17/hr. I live in a cheaper city than Austin that also uses federal minimum wage, and Taco Bell is hiring at 18/hr.
nationally it is
As for the discussion of minimum wage and the economics of cities, what I would like to see is a discussion on whether urbanism is tied only to cities with strong economies or whether urbanism can be implemented in cities with weak economies and high poverty, and whether it can in turn stimulate a weak local economy.
Great question
Good urbanism is even more important in a place where people have fewer resources, because it opens up opportunities to people without cars. Access to transit is one of the biggest factors in social mobility. Living in Spain, I can say that good urbanism can be done on a tight budget. Sure, some of the flashier stuff is in big, wealthy cities like Barcelona or Madrid, but even small regional capitals of relatively poor regions are walkable and easy to get around here.
Underated comment ❤
If anything I think good urbanism would be a massive boon in low income cities/areas, and I think the lack of it is one of the reasons the poor often stay poor in this country. Its very difficult to go about daily life without a car in many areas, this eats into your time, or health if you don't want to take the bus to a decent grocery store. Takes longer to apply to jobs, go to appointments, get to and from work etc. Removing these barriers would be super helpful, having lived in low income European cities where this is not really an issue.
“I’m not going to get into taxes, which the working poor do pay, which is asinine both morally and administratively” this quote is gold
In most states, the poorest 20% actually pay more in taxes than the wealthiest 1%, because of high sales taxes and taxes on basic needs like food and clothing, and low income and property taxes. Source: ITEP, the Institute on Taxation and Monetary Policy.
@@katiem.3109 meh mostly propaganda. rich 1 percent pay the most in taxes. hence the reason why the rich left alot of blue states for red ones after the pandemic .
@@ashishpatel350 I literally provided the source on this. The ITEP 'who pays?' report, which relies on government taxation data, not 'propaganda'. There are only 5 states in the country in which taxation does not worsen inequality--i.e. where the rich pay at least as much in taxes as the poor. If you have a source that says otherwise please provide it. Fox 'news' and Breitbart don't count.
Higher taxes on wealth just encourage people to stay poor
@@artemzhirkov7565people don’t just “choose to stay poor” or whatever, especially not based on taxes. this viewpoint is based on nothing but speculation
I moved from NYC to Philly. I love it! It’s so affordable for normal people. So much “missing middle” housing!
unlimited missing middle and abundant crime, what a combo.
It also shows why laws around rent regulation or minimum wage aren't as needed as people say. Philly shows that if you just have enough housing stock, and have a strong labor market, then you don't need laws regulating them. And that's from one of the bluest cities in the country!
Typical "I have never stepped foot in the city I'm talking about" comment@@pavelow235
@@anthonydpearson none of that makes any sense at all. there is acres and acres of public housing in Philly. You ever been there? Safe clean neighborhoods with clean housing is in short supply in Philly, like everywhere else.
Philly is great, and we got rid of a lot of useless gov employees this year. the mayor, police union rep and police commissioner, and a few city council members are new and seemingly more interested in actually governing than the do nothing people they replaced. public transit is getting increased state funding to cover most of their deficit, mayor is pro development with community input and wants to get crime under control, police have been more active the past 2 months after new commissioner came in than the past 3 years combined. The replies to you can keep crying, there's safe housing near train lines for sale for 250k or so.
Very surprised Honolulu did not make the top 10! Minimum wage is 12/hr, pitiful compared to cost of living (and it was only raised last year, it was 10.10/hr for the longest time, which is criminally low here). There’s been a housing shortage and people are moving away in droves. Sadly the majority of Kānaka Maoli now live outside of Hawai’i. As always, great vid :)
I think he may have forgotten to look at Honolulu, because with the average income of 12$ an hour and, from what I can find, a rent/square foot of 3.5, it should make the top ten. But it should be noted that he didn't consider overall cost of living, such as Honolulu's extremely high grocery prices. In measures of overall cost of living for minimum wage workers, Honolulu is the worst city in the country, at least according to most analyses I have seen on this.
You are not kidding about blue dot-red state issues. In Texas some 10 or 15 years ago, some places passed plastic bag bans, and the state legislature dictated that not only were local jurisdictions not allowed to ban plastic bags, stores were in fact required to offer them. Another cool thing: cities cannot restrict gun shows and indeed any gun show that requests space in a publicly run convention facility *must* be accommodated. Uber also paid off the state legislature (I mean, they know what a bribe is and are happy to accept them) to require cities to allow Uber to operate. Republicans often champion local authority, but that only applies for certain local authorities.
And that’s why I don’t understand anyone moving to red state,even if the city is blue. Your locality may be progressive but troglodytes at the state level will overrule you and impose their horrible policies.
Bloomington, IN city council was in the midst of passing a plastic bag ban but then the Pence administration had the state legislature pass a law making plastic bag bans or charging for plastic bags illegal.
@@jillengel4124 Red states do this sort of thing all the time- so no matter how “blue” the city is, I wouldn’t move to one in a red state on my own volition.
@@manmasherit truly does suck. If my wife’s family wasn’t deeply rooted here, I’d be on to another big city in a purple or blue state.
I moved to Madison recently, and it's a bit special. You can easily find income restricted and luxury apartments, so is livable at minimum wage. If your household income is good, but not great, it's very difficult to find an affordable apartment.
And not a question, but a comment - Madison is a college town! Less than it was 30 years ago as the city has grown, but still a college town. The State government may be centered there but the still University dominates the city.
The only issue is that like 25% of the metro population is students and students are not allowed to rent income-restricted housing even if they cant afford to live anywhere else
@@Badgerbrew I'm pretty sure its a Midwest-rivalry anti-Badger joke.
It probably would have made more sense to use the prevailing minimum wage (e.g. what McDonalds is offering new employees) rather than the statutory minimum, since in most places right now that have low legal minimums, you can't actually hire anybody for that amount.
Yeah, I think that would be a really interesting video because as someone who lives in Madison no place here is paying 7.25 I normally don't see anything lower then $12 an hour
@@UnreachableString Again, this is because of the very low current unemployment rate. When there is a recession and it goes to 6-7% jobs being offered will pay much less and require three years experience in doing exactly the same job etc.
damn the federal government taxing sub-11k incomes (or even 30k (arbitrary number) for that matter) is insane. If only there was some way to substitute that for something like the massive amount of wealth sitting around a handful of people that couldn't possibly spend all of it.
edit: not that taxes are the only point of this video, just touching on a bit
We should have a maximum wage. No one should be a billionaire.
@@bonne_vie ooo I like that! A little too socialist for the US though I suspect....
The standard deduction is about $14k, if you're earning less than that amount you won't have to pay income tax on that.
@@bonne_vie people don't become billionaires through wages, they get it from owning shares of companies or rights to pieces of media.
You shouldn't have to pay any income tax on any earned wages that are required to buy the food, housing, healthcare, and clothing that one NEEDS to survive. The trick, of course, is defining the dollar amount that covers NEEDS vs. WANTS.
My office is in Elgin!
I live in Chicago (Lakeview East) and only need to commute a few times per month, but with CTA and PACE integrating fares I can get from my apartment to my office - a 76 mile round-trip - for $5. Insane value.
Side note: I really like downtown Elgin. Personally I feel it gets much more flack than it should. It boasts a beautiful downtown with excellent transit (for the US, and especially for a suburb), nice attractions/amenities, and INCREDIBLY cheap housing. The only thing keeping me from considering moving there eventually are the very, very poor-performing school district. But aside from that I’d love to live there.
Kind of a strange choice to use the minimum wage instead of like, the 20th percentile of income. Because I imagine in a lot of places with low minimum wages, very few people actually earn that little. The minimum wage is just one of many factors affecting what people actually earn in a city.
Agreed. Why does a federal minimum wage of $7.25 matter when many companies are offering $15-$20 per hour just to be able to compete for employees?
Agreed. Charleston (#3 on the bottom 10) is a good example of that. The minimum wage is technically $7.25/hour, but I think the market wage is higher than that, as I see even the entry-level, unskilled jobs advertising $10-15 per hour.
That being said, Charleston is still insanely expensive for what you get.
One thing that was visually demonstrated in this video but not talked about is the "tipped worker" minimum wage. As someone who has worked in the service industry for almost a decade, that's a really important factor for picking somewhere to live. On the West Coast, I can actually make a good living as a bartender (~60k or so). But if I moved to, say, Santa Fe, I would be making $3 an hour plus tips and would probably have no room to save for anything ever.
Yeah I kept looking at it as I went through but wasn't sure how to get into the nuance without derailing the video. Maybe a different topic at some point! I was a tipped worker once, too
@@CityNerdis there data on tipping income, habits or averages by city? seems difficult to account for.
I cant find any jobs in Santa Fe that pay less than 15/ hour, people seem to be assuming that the fed wage is whats actually being paid
@@caseycreighton1687 tipped workers are paid less than minimum wage in many states. In ohio for example minimum wage is $8, but if you are a tipped employee you can be paid only $4/hr
@@caseycreighton1687 good to know!
I just got back from Japan, and it really is amazing that in a land with many stroads, and tons of single family homes, even the smallest of towns are still walkable. Even the worst stroads like National Rt 10 in Beppu still had protected sidewalks up until you encountered the parking lots. I stayed in the small town of Hamasaki in Saga Prefecture which is part of the larger Karatsu city, and it was quite amazing how even though it was a very boring town other than the beach, I could still easily walk to get my daily needs. The town was mostly hotels and single family homes, but because there was commercial property like restaurants, convenience stores etc I didn't need a car at all, and my whole time in the Karatsu area I didn't need public transit either.
Your trip was off the beaten path(s). Good for you for checking out those parts of Japan. Cheers, Guy
It's interesting you say that because my biggest complaint when we visit my wife's family in Osaka is that there are no sidewalks on most streets and you have to walk on the road and contend with cars just a few feet away as they zoom past. You even see kids no more than 6 or 7 walking home from school on these streets. It's baffling to me that parents are okay with that when otherwise the Japanese are so risk-averse.
@@dkj8081 that is on streets though. Streets, Roads and Stroads are not the same thing
Okay. So what? The streets in Osaka (and Tokyo, in my experience), are quite dangerous. That was my point. I think your stroad comment and my comment are not really in conflict. @@linuxman7777
Perfect timing for this video, as I'm in the process of trying to find a cheap apartment right now! Some things I've learned from now own research:
1.) The individual apartment matters more than the location. Even though average rents tend to be much higher in urban areas the range of rents is also considerably larger, meaning you still might be more likely to find an apartment for less than $1,000 a month in a large city than a small town.
2.) Most small towns are almost entirely composed of single-family homes, so even if the cost of housing is cheap renters will actually find more options in larger cities, even if average housing costs are higher.
3.) As a lifelong resident of Washington state I can tell you that while we have some of the most expensive housing/rents in the country, we also have some of the cheapest. The Puget Sound region is the only really expensive part of the state (with a few exceptions). Eastern Washington and the Olympic Peninsula are just as cheap as many places in the Midwest or Deep South, yet have Washington's high minimum wage. You might consider places like Port Angeles, Aberdeen, Yakima, the Tri-Cities, or Spokane (Spokane in particular has quite a few rentals, and is the second most populous city in the state).
I used to live in Tempe, AZ, and recall paying an electric bill of near $500 per month during the long hot periods. Granted, it was a 3 BR Craftsman house built in 1919, but still. So, if you think Peoria or Buckeye might work for you, be sure to ask about utility bills!
Good point. Also you are looking at pretty exclusively single-family housing here, meaning high utility bills! I live in a rare townhome in AZ and my highest ever utility bill was like $150 for a 3br house. That missing middle housing would make a huge difference in affordability in this climate. Granted, I'm sure heating costs are also a major problem in cold climates too.
@ElFlippage
Insulation pays off even more when it's winter, especially when coupled with design. You could get away with not needing the furnace on the chilly days with a bearable 10C
I have a 500 sq ft apartment that faces the sun for most of the day and I pay at most $80 a month during the summer in Phoenix. It goes down to like $25 in the winter, not bad at all.
Not to mention that Buckeye and Peoria are just terrible places to live. There's a reason the rent is so low.
We paid $400 a month in 2015 for electricity in Gilbert, AZ, and the house wasn't cool, we kept the thermostat at 79 F. That probably lasts about 4 months at that level mid-May to mid-Sept and that was for a single family home crappily built in the 90s. On the winter side of things, we paid about $120ish in winter for similar housing in Laramie, WY at 7200 ft. Heat is way more efficient than AC.
Happy to see Elgin on the channel. That plane/parking garage "art" from Elgin is a part of Nightmare on Chicago Street decorations since the streetview imagery is from October.
I moved to Lansing, Michigan and it's so cheap when compared to the rest of the country for what you get. Yeah we're not a huge city (metro of 500,000, although we kind of inflated that number by claiming the city of Owosso as part of our metro, which in real life terms I'm not so convinced by), but we're just big enough to have most of the things you'd want from a city and East Lansing is a solid college town. My particular neighborhood gets a walk score of 81, although I won't lie and say it's an urban paradise. We also have some great urban bike/walking trails. For some reason my 'hood only gets a transit score of 38 despite having 3 bus lines within a few minutes of each other, two of which go downtown and one that goes to Michigan State University, all fairly quickly. The bus system is decent, IMO.
Lansing is also a very, very diverse city, which I enjoy. Yes, our economy could be a little better, the job market isn't exactly blowing anyone's socks off, and we have significant room for improvement in terms of urban development, but the city is always improving and the cost savings really make it worth it for me. There are a lot of Midwest towns like Lansing that I think are at least worth a look. If you need a super dynamic urban hub you might be let down, but if you're happy with living somewhere historic that at least has some decent urban amenities, maybe give smaller Midwest cities a chance. You can actually own a home without a mortgage that will dominate the rest of your life.
God sometimes I want to do it. I lived in the Chicago area, and went to college in Columbia MO, and consider going back to the Midwest sometimes. But I hate the cold. So. Fucking. Much. I have a bad cold sensitivity so I used to scream just going outside as a kid in polar vortexes and hated every inch of snow. Can you guys just like.. turn the temperature up a little faster
@@F4URGranted We've been getting less snow and less brutal cold over the last decade (I've lived in California and Texas, so I have some perspective on climate). A lot of times it doesn't seem like we get serious snow and deep cold until January or even February, and then we're already warming up in March. Whether that trend is here to stay or if it's just a phase remains to be seen. I've learned to wear lots of layers and it's really not bad at all, even when it's near zero. But I won't lie, having to put on multiple layers every morning in the winter is annoying.
Great shoutout! I see the same thing in Dayton OH when I go back and visit family. The big thing for me will always be a lack of big water right there. I lived in Marquette for 4 years as a kid and Lake Superior just spoiled me something rotten! But I think that's just a "me thing." The Rust Belt really seems to be having an urban resurgence.
Owning a home sounds great and all, but where's my job market though? How am I gonna buy a house with no jobs there?
Access to East Lansing (MSU) makes a HUGE difference to the quality of life in the Lansing metro area. And look to the west for bigger city amenities. Grand Rapids is only a hour drive away. You don't need to go to the Detroit metro area. Plus, access to the recreation opportunities of inland lakes, rivers, woodlands, etc., are relatively nearby, although the beaches of Lake Michigan are about 90+ minutes away.
I’m torn about how Oregon is doing minimum wage- I live in Deschutes County (Bend) and even though we’re a bigger area, minimum wage is relatively low. Actually- Bend and cities like it might be an interesting topic- The Mountain Resort Tourist cities whose service workers can’t afford to live in the cities they work in. The “Poverty with a View” cities- Like Boulder, Aspen, Bend, Mt. Shasta, etc. Like how our infrastructure is more built for tourists than residents. For instance we have a shuttle service out to the ski mountain that runs every 15 minutes in the winter yet our bus system in town is unusable.
Great point!!! I lived in Portland for 6+ years and it blew me away when our minimum wage went up but Bend pretty much stayed the same. Then lockdown hit and BOOM everyone moved to recreational paradises, pricing out the normal people. Bend got it BAD! I live in Bellingham WA and a similar thing happened here in terms of population boom. Thankfully we have a high minimum wage (which I make), but the median coast for an apartment is like 1400 or something like that (I pay 1700 for 2 bedrooms.)
Yeah, add Jackson, WY in there too.
@@dmike3507 oh the mountain west! One of my co-workers was in Telluride last, and that place honestly sounds like the makings of The Shining or some shit... kinda wild what outdoor recreation does to the pricing of housing in very rural areas.
At this point the whole coast, or at least the northern two third portion, counts in that too.
One thing I've heard but don't know too much about is that some highly developed countries have no minimum wage at all, like Norway. However, almost every low wage worker is part of a union, which essentially sets the minimum wage. I wonder how much that impacts Norway's minimum wage vs the US's, fixed minimum wage but free market capitalism, system
Yay for Rockford IL making a list! I live in an older part near the river and it has ok public transit, bicycle gutters, mixed use paths, and a nice walkable downtown area. Super affordable, not nearly as scary as everyone makes it out to be 😂
And Metra is supposed to connect to there in a few years!
I grew up by swedes, blocks away from a house that was filmed for a documentary called "crackhouse". Certain areas at certain times should definitely be avoided by certain people. but I visited recently and it does seem to have gotten better and am happy for my city in that regard.
Love your channel and this video! It’s when you make videos about and speak on equity in our cities that really shows the importance of city design and urbanism.
Rockford mentioned, and it's not the bad stuff! Very exciting, thanks
I had a similar thought 🎉
Thanks for showing your notes and sharing your resources with the class. I know that this isn't college but you really open a window on the world that is so helpful to this audience!
Regional rail in Colorado is likely one of the best ideas I’ve heard in a while. Combine that with double Peoria and double Springfield and I think this one is in your top ten.
Thanks for featuring Visalia, CA! I grew up in Northern CA and currently live in Visalia. It’s a very quaint city and it’s smack dab in the middle of CA. I am 3-1/2 hours to LA, SF, Sacramento and 20-45 mins from the sequoias and a Cheesecake Factory. It’s ag and dairy out here but if you like slower and more quiet CA living, this is the place to be. We could use more progressive people out here and less conservative folks to help keep this place growing but it has the best center for the LGBTQIA in the Central Valley.
If I had no urban interests and was fine with always being at home during my free time, I would consider Visalia or other cities in the Central Valley.
I was amused by the fact that Visalia is divided into 2 congressional districts the way it is. Because indeed, the downtown, north of the freeway is quite charming. I recently spent a few days there for a meeting and it was a positive surprise, in general.
Can you please try and do a city trip to Carmel, IN?!? I go to that area every so often and am fascinated by it. I get this uncanny valley feeling of urbanism implanted on what is fundamentally an extremely suburban/exurban environment, but I feel like it's the prime example of what many suburban cities are now thinking successful new development looks like. I think it would be really interesting to get your take on it, and would be a bit different than your other city visits.
It's something I'd definitely like to do! And Indianapolis.
Yes please do! I live in Fishers next door to Carmel.
@@CityNerd Indianapolis is one of those cities that when you drive through it on the highway, you barely notice it's there, but when you get to street level, it's really pretty interesting. Pretty walkable/bikeable, too, especially downtown and the adjacent areas.
@@CityNerd Indy would be great, would love to hear what your takes on the existing Red Line and soon to be implemented Blue and Purple Line BRTs. Downtown Indy and the communities nearby are actually a pretty nifty, and I love what they've done with the Cultural trail. Still, go far enough outside of downtown such as Castleton (NE outskirts), and it becomes Anywhere, USA. Overall, Indy feels like it has a lot of potential though!
I grew up near Visalia and that’s the home town of Geography King (Kyle). It’s one of the nicer Central Valley towns in terms of amenities but certainly has its share of downsides
City Nerd and Geography King are two of my absolute favorite channels!
Yes, it's a nice city, good community college, things to do, but Visalia and Tulare County as a whole have some of the worst education rates, air quality, and teen pregnancy rates in the nation.
Woohoo! Peoria, IL! My home. I think this is a first for the channel. Life is cheap and easy here. If only it were more bikeable and walkable, but it could be worse and the mountain biking is very fine.
Never thought I'd live to see the day Elgin, IL makes a list on here.
I'm curious what the analysis would look like if you used the 10%/25% percentile income for each city instead of minimum wage - I imagine that a lot of expensive cities in states that are still using the $7.25 figure are in practice going to have higher wages than that, since that number hasn't been changed in so long. i.e. I'd guess that Austin TX probably in practice pays more for service industry jobs than Waco TX, even though they're in the same state and have the same minimum wage.
This is a very good point. Actually lots of businesses in Washington and Seattle now are starting pay even above their high minimum wages, this is likely much more prevalent in low wage states.
That would be interesting, as it would give you more of a picture of what each city's "middle class" could afford (however you define that group) , which is the group that always seems to get left out of the equation.
PEORIA ILLINOIS BRIEFLY MENTIONED
I lived there for two years and found it very endearing, but this was probably its only chance at a CityNerd feature -- housing prices are probably the only thing it has going for it, quantitatively speaking. Pretty bad for urbanism but pretty awesome for beautiful late 19th/early 20th century brick warehouses, and surely that counts for something. Like many rust belt-y small cities, the potential is surely there, but urban decay has done its thing. Can't really fix the suburban sprawl, but there are nice bones, albeit largely abandoned, at the core. Everyone watching this video should just move there and exert urbanist influence. But I guess we can't just do that with every city of its kind.
From Bloomington and a lot of our Central IL cities have good bones that could really be rebuilt if there is a good enough push. Bloomington is doing a new Streetscape Plan for Downtown and is an active Strong Towns group, Decatur full of potential but needs that help, Springfield easily could be redone with parking garages demo'd, and Chambana is so tied to the university its just extending that college town urbanism further out.
But yeah, yall in Peoria has some fucking terrible suburban sprawl and was shocked when I actually looked into it.
Peoria has a cool geography, riverfront and parks. A lot of sprawl yes but really easy to hop on i74 and get from one side of town to the other
I would LOVE a video on Carmel, IN. It's a fascinating place for countless reasons, not least of which is its Stepfordian bouginess.
And the mayor-elect refused to denounce Moms for Liberty. Tells you all you need to know about Carmel.
@@jillengel4124 oh yeah, Carmel is richwhite hatechristian central. Place creeps me out.
I’m ready for your Carmel video. And your Indianapolis series, in general! I’m in Irvington (original home of Butler University) and it would be perfect if it had a real grocery store and a safe bike path to downtown. Expanding BRT coming soon!
Carmel is such a nightmare. Mayoral election last night ensures the insanity will continue. Jesse Brown was elected to the Indianapolis city council last night so there might be hope for Irvington getting the needed bike lanes.
Topic suggestion: Factors that determine how affordable (or not) a city is. Part of the problem with a lot of urbanest movements is they correctly identify that density is a positive thing for efficient land use/transport/preventing sprawl...but it can result in local monopolies and land barons (eg NY City). IMO a key solution is more public infrastructure (public markets, public housing, etc...) where is properly managed can reduce cost for locals.
Yes, the underlying economic system definitely has some major defects; it often rewards some atrocious behavior.
There are still not monopolies in NYC. There are simply shortages. I’m not against public housing but even in NYC, they’re suffering with the same problem as most other cities because of their red tape. Same with SF, Seattle, Honolulu, LA. Cut the red tape, get rid of parking minimums, get rid of most set backs, density maximum, and get rid of rent control. Get rid of the property tax and replace it with a land value tax to incentivize productive use of land rather than punish putting up a building.
@@usernameryan5982A land value tax would be helpful...but in regards to monopolies, they do exist in NY City. The best real estate within walking distance of the main subway stations is absolutely controlled by wealthy land-barons who use their monopoly power to jack up rates to obscene levels.
@@usernameryan5982 yes, exactly this. it's funny how bad most people are at thinking about this stuff
It's worth keeping in mind, that you might come out ahead in city with slightly higher rents if it has good public transportation--what you save in transportation (car loan, gas, insurance, etc.) might exceed the extra rent.
Great video as always Mr CityNerd. Was ecstatic to see my hometown Rockford Illinois mentioned, in a positive context! I recently started working for the MPO here too, in part thanks to you and other Urbanist content creators. I think it would be really interesting to see you do a video examining mid size rust belt cities and their urbanist potential.
You described Carmel, IN perfectly. When I see roads trimmed down with added bike paths and pedestrian crosswalks it makes me smile. Then I remember that this burb has no public transportation. Anyone that wants to complain about traffic here, I point and say next window please.
I sometimes wonder if this is one of the most "populous" US cities without transit. Yet the longtime mayor says with a straight face that he's "passionate" about transit. I guess as long as it's somewhere else? Amazing what gets said around here with a straight face. Anyway, I suspect any mayor proposing transit would be recalled instantly.
Carmel doesn’t want public transportation because they don’t want “those people” coming up there.
Basically, the more affordable, the less walkable. :(
Another way to look at it: The less desirable, the more affordable. If you want to be able to afford to live somewhere, then make that place less desirable so that others won't want to move to there.
@@laurie7689sound logic
I am also in Kevin McCarthy's district through no choice of my own. There was some very weird gerrymandering lately.
Did you forget to look at Honolulu? Minimum wage is 12$ and it looks like price per square foot is 3.5, which should put it in the top ten.
The affordability of non-walkable places could highlight the lack of demand to live in such places.
I was so confident Austin was going to be the most expensive until I found out they raised the minimum wage to $20/hr in the city. Good for them!
Austin is pushing so many progressive and non-nimby laws through that im scared the state will take over 😂
That's the minimum wage for city employees. Private businesses can & do pay less.
minimum wage in austin is still 7.25. city employees have a minimum wage of $20
The central portion of California's San Joaquin Valley is California's last affordable area where you can still live in a medium sized city. Of course, the pollution in the mountain enclosed valley is horrendous, the poverty is high, crime is high, the economy has been stagnant for 40 years, the job market is dominated by min wage jobs, and professional jobs are scarce, and thus suffers from brain drain. It's one of several areas in California that have been forgotten during California's economic boom. The cities of Fresno, Visalia, Tulare, and Hanford are between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they are just a little too far from both to benefit from the economic activity of either. As a Fresno native, it pains my heart to see, but despite multiple attempts at revitalization over the decades, none has taken root. High Speed Rail is the last best hope for these cities to gain any upwardly mobile economic traction and become the vibrant cities they once were. For the record, Visalia is pronounced Vy-Say-Lia
I moved to Bakersfield at the end of the last building boom here, around 2005. You're pretty spot on about everything else. Also, Bako is home to many stroads which are used as drag strips by the local disaffected teens around here.
@@tonyarmbrust Living in Los Angeles, I knew a number of people who commuted from Bakersfield to LA. I thought that was crazy. Driving over the Grapevine in any kind of weather other than sunny and dry, was terrifying to me. That still seems like a horrible commute, but I know that hundreds, if not thousands, of people do it now. Kern Transit even has a bus route from Bakersfield to Santa Clarita.
The economic disparity and the commute times between Silicon Valley and the Northern San Joaquin Valley are also very extreme (if not more so). Who wants to spend 4 hours commuting on top of an 8 hour workday?
Yes, I grew up in Bakersfield and worked in Bakersfield and then Fresno after I graduated. I got tired of being asked “You’re the doctor? You’re the one who’s going to surgery on my pet? “ so when the chance came I hightailed it to the Bay Area. I could have had a Craftsman hand built house for $100,000 there and all I can afford is rent here, but it’s been worth it.
@@danielleweber8914 Like most other professionals, you had to leave. It's funny you mention that craftsman house. I went to my old neighborhood by Roosevelt HS and it's run down now, but the houses are still in pretty good shape structurally. I grew up in one of those houses. Fresno has good bones. If Fresno ever does turn around, those houses could be very popular.
Mr. "Carmel needs its own video one day" and "Indianapolis' cultural trail needs its own video one day" should finally come to the Indy MSA. I'll even be your guide and let you ride my scooter around.
Topic Suggestion: Planning ahead and thinking of retiring to an affordable city, I would love to see a video about the best cities in the US for older folks who need great healthcare, easy accessibility to amenities, affordability, and good public transportation. What are the best cities (in the US) for older adults in retirement on a fixed income, etc.? Thanks!
In the US?
Slab City. The only inflation-proof "city" in the world, lol.
@@stevengordon3271 Yes, sorry I didn't mention that important detail :)
@@jeffparlier3979 You did state the best cities in the US.
Would love to see a video about Carmel sometime
And a deep dive into how it's being financed. 😮
No employer in Carmel, IN is paying just $7.25 an hour. Entry level jobs paying around $15-$18 an hour are everywhere in that town.
Agree, with the exception of the mandatory volunteer labor extracted from parents of high schoolers whose team/band or whatever is pursuing yet another championship of some sort.
The number of workers on minimum wage varies wildly from state to state, with as many as 2.8% of workers in Louisiana at $7.25, and only 0.1% in Connecticut at the $15.00 floor.
I'd be interested in knowing what cities have the biggest disparity between the amount of investment in walking, biking, and transit infrastructure and the amount of people who actually walk, bike, and take transit. AKA the places where culture overcomes the actions of the government, for better or for worse. Maybe the city invests a lot in bike infrastructure but that doesn't actually move the needle on car use. Maybe the city does very little to improve bike infrastructure, but tons of people bike anyways. (Last week you mentioned Corvallis as leaning more towards the latter.)
Infuriating is the right word for Carmel. I was promised a walkable city, but when I visited, it all felt like facade. I walked and biked 3 laps around the place in a day and ran out of stuff to do. If you go down the wrong street you'll see all the usual parking lots, strip malls, and big box stores you'd expect from Indy. I'm spoiled on Bloomington IN
Fair. I'd say there's a small and expensive walkable core surrounded by suburbia.
A real nightmare isn’t it.
first time commenter. you made yet another great video! i live in salt lake right now and loved seeing it make a video. i think this is the 3rd i’ve seen it in one. would love to see it more. if that doesnt happen, i’ll keep watching and loving the work you do!
I think minimum wage though isn't necessarily the best way to assess affordability. Somewhere like Pittsburgh where minimum wage is $7.25, no one's actually getting paid that - even a retail job or fast food will pay at least $14 or so. What might be more helpful is look at the places where the combined cost of housing and transportation is the lowest % compared to median wage.
Here in northern Indiana pretty much everywhere is offering $14-16/hr starting wage and businesses still struggle to fill positions. The Covid lockdowns really flipped the board over and the pieces are still settling.
As a Pittsburgh resident, there definitely are plenty of people I’ve known who work minimum wage or close to it. And I think the point of the video is to see what’s affordable for lowest earning workers.
Yes, SLC a Blue dot in a very Red State.
A lot of those minimum wage increases in red states (like Arizona, Missouri, or my state of Nebraska) came via ballot initiatives/referenda. Republican legislatures won't raise it under any circumstances, but when given the chance to vote directly on issues without the party labeling, culture wars, and tribalism associated with candidate elections, voters will often choose the more progressive option. (As seen also with Medicaid expansion, abortion rights, overturning union-busting laws, etc.) Wisconsin in particular has hideously gerrymandered maps, where Republican legislators can get a minority of the votes and still win veto-proof supermajorities. And it's not surprising that the "no defined minimum wage" states are historically associated with, shall we say, zero-cost labor markets.
Those maps in Wisconson might be changed very soon. Long overdue...
Imma steal "zero-cost labor market."
However, slavery isn't completely zero cost. You have to feed and house your slaves, and pay overseers and such. Plus the cost of chains and whips and ropes. Ugh, you might as well just pay them.
Another example of voters voting for Republicans and then having to vote in another election to overturn their policies or institute laws that the Republicans refuse to pass. But guess what? Those Republicans often get reelected and stay in office to continue to confound their constituents.
I love how California made the most affordable list but not the most expensive. I'm so proud of my state! (But I still can't move out of my parents' house.)
walk score of 14? So you basically need a spare car in case your regular car breaks down…?
For the local pronunciation, we say "Vy-SAIL-Yuh". Thanks for your well researched content.
My in-laws lived in Elgin, Illinois for several years so I got to know the city a bit and… it's not bad. It _is_ a proper city in itself, just one that got swallowed up by a growing megalopolis. The downtown is nice, there's a great library and a thriving arts community, and there are some excellent nature preserves in the area. It's honestly a bit of a stretch to say it's a suburb of Chicago though… it is really far out. (It's closer to Rockford than to Chicago proper, if I'm not mistaken.)
Awesome video! Love these types of topics!
Since you mentioned UBI, I personally think basic income and a robust increase in minimum wage are both worthwhile goals / aspirations. I think the two together could do a lot to help mitigate poverty, especially if both are tied to inflation and cost of living indexes. That and no taxation on minimum wage level income or lower.
And while I'm indulging in wishful thinking, fully funded public education of all levels and fully funded public healthcare would also be nice. Oh, and a robust national rail system. And great light rail, tram, bus, and bike infrastructure. Anyway, preaching to the choir at this point.
Love your work! Thanks for all the great vids!
Glad you brought up Pueblo. There are more cities in Colorado than Denver people! That being said, it has a looong way to go.
PA keeps talking about raising minimum wage, but it's yet to happen. Maybe someday (hopefully soon). Fortunately, where I live in PA (Southeast) has a strong enough labor market that no business can really get away with paying min wage, especially as Walmart, Target, and Amazon promise 15+.
The PA house, which only recently gained a small democratic majority after like a
decade thanks to less gerrymandered maps, passed a bill to raise the minimum wage. However, republicans still control the state senate, so It’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.
Republicans still control the Pennsylvania State Senate, so that's an obstacle.
Pro UBI, if you are trying to solve people not having money, giving them money seems like an efficient approach. Everything else creates unexpected second order effects. Minimum wage is just moralism to pick who is worthy of not being poor. Also, how does one get a capitalist free market without ensuring that only work that creates value gets done, not BS that allows people to feed their families subsidized by weird externalities.
It’d be great to see state specific content like most walkable/affordable or best towns in NJ.
I love your channel, very valuable information.
Seems like you do have to pay a premium for walkability in most cases.
True, but you also save money by not needing a car.
In all cases really. The relationship between good urbanism and high housing costs is very strong.
Man, you're dropping a lot of truth in this that's dripping in sarcasm. I love it.
The Best Jerry, THE BEST!,
I used to live in Columbia, MO. The rent is very decent there! It is very walkable. They have trails all around the city, including some that are separated from the roads.
I moved to Central IN and you are spot on about Carmel, IN!
In defense of miami, fl minimum wage is $12 as of like last month. a few years ago they passed a law bringing the minimum wage up by $1 every year until it hits 15, and it changes on Sept 30. If I did the math right (questionable) this would bring the sq ft in budget up to 175, which is still terrible but brings it out of the bottom 10
I love that you're from Seattle and I often times get to spot landmarks like the movie theater on 45th in Wallingford.
Love your videos. Do you have any plans to look at Allentown, PA?
Are you familiar with box and whisker charts? Given how much you talk about the variability of walkability in a city (even the worst have some area that is decent). It would be great to see the city with the most variability within it. Also it’s an excuse to show a new type of nerdy graph on the show.
High five for the box and whisker graphs, they are seriously so underutilized for numerical data.
Violin plots are nice too and show where the variability is, not everything is normally distributed. We need to get CN off of excel and playing with some Python and Plotly!
I'm wondering how Anchorage Ak faired on your spreadsheets. I know its kind of an odd ball city compared to many of cities in the lower 48 states. I call Fairbanks AK home (its well under 100K in population but has a pretty descent bus routes) however the weather can make walking or biking places difficult for some parts of the year.
Ha I was curious about this, too, with all the comments about Hawai'i.
In my experience most places don’t even offer minimum wage wages anymore. Where I live the minimum wage is less than $10 but most companies and enterprises offer anywhere between $10-$15 and that’s still a struggle
Never thought I'd see Elgin on a city nerd video!
Why are we subsidizing corporations by allowing them to pay people less than it costs to live? Shouldn’t people have the dignity of being paid a living wage for work that needs to be done?
A little pandemic has caused a rift in employment, making companies up their wage offerings to attract workers. It's good news for those seeking employment, if only temporary.
edit: Forgot to say I agree there is little justification to subsidize any corporation.
The problem with minimum wage is that one of the intended consequences is to price Black workers out of the job market, and it is very effective at doing so.
Exactly.
Thank you for covering this -- the safety net is huge
I love your kitty! I was so supposed not to see SF on here. I was ready to enjoy your searing critique of my home. 😂
Affordable cities exist, as I found visiting my mom's girlhood neighborhood. Even pleasant ones, with jobs and multiple daily trains to bigger cities. They just may not be as trendy as others.
I wasn't surprised about New York City. I watched a Cash Jordan video about apartment rents a month or two ago --- he lives in NYC and he shows apartments for a living and has a lot of "cool New York City apartment" videos on TH-cam. He's branched out into reporting and in that video I watched he compared New York City rents to other cities in the country and he said NYC has the highest rents in the country. Since he was hawking tiny apartments for over $3500 a month, I wasn't surprised.
This is Manhattan...rents in the Queens ..Brooklyn..are less but still expensive. 2100 for a one Bedroom
This might have been your most important video yet. Thank you!!
Signs of a good content creator. Took criticism, processed it and made more good content from it. Love the videos
Although minimum wage is $7.25 in my state. You'd be hard pressed to find a job lower than $10 an hour. And with a little looking most fast food restaurants and other minimum wage jobs pay an average of $14 - $16 starting.
Although I understand the premise of this video, I don’t think it makes sense in reality. Iowa for example has a 7.25 minimum wage but I don’t think almost anyone in the state actually makes that. Every fast food joint is advertising 13-20 publicly on their sign. If there was a way to figure out the real world minimum wage that people work for (and maybe there is no way to find that out? Maybe look at job posting for minimally technical jobs?) I think your results would be different.
Great to see some IL cities, Springfield isn’t my fav but glad to see Peoria and Rockford as I like visiting those places
Peoria, Illinois mentioned! Love it here, and long on the great lakes states generally.
Hey do you have the full list of city's. I'm a housing advocate in Austin and I'm really interested in where we fell. I know we're pretty bad; but I believe we have improved slightly with our recent actions on housing affordability. We DEFINATELY feel the "Blue dot in the Red state" pain. The state prevents us from having a miminmum wage city ordinance. What we do have is control over the minimum wage all public employees and contracters pay. I we did get that up to $20 for the city/county and all schools. I site that as evidence if we could raise the mimimum wage at the county level it would be done. ...sigh... the other problem with Texas is its *@*$+& huge. 10 counties in texas probably have more population than alot of states. And there are definately more than 10 true blue counties in Texas. But we don't matter becuase were outvoted by the endless plains of dumb.