It’s 2018. New year, new me, right?
If that means trying out a new town, given how expensive rent seems to be across the U.S., we have some good news and some bad news for you.
First, the bad news. Even though there were slightly fewer renters in 2017 — for the first time in more than a decade — the cost of rent still rose more than 2%, according to an annual analysis of the rental market conducted by Abodo.
The good news: of the 85 cities Abodo analyzed, a few are affordable.
To give you a better picture of where you might consider starting your new year, we looked at the change in income and population of those 85 cities, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Census Bureau, along with the local unemployment rates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
We then weighed the affordability and strength of each local economy, along with the latest rental rates for one-bedroom apartments from Abodo to bring you the cities that are growing, getting richer and are actually affordable in 2018.
These 8 Affordable Cities Are Growing and Getting Richer
You want to live where the jobs are, right? All of these cities have unemployment rates below the national average of 4.1%. We’ve also tried to come as close as possible to the 30% rule when it comes to the amount you spend on rent.
And finally, we looked at the industries in each city to find which ones employ the most residents, then created our list of eight affordable cities that are on major upswings.
1. Lincoln, Nebraska
Rent: $648
Average income: $27,585
Unemployment rate: 2.1%
Population: 217,283
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; manufacturing; retail
2. Lubbock, Texas
Rent: $550
Average income: $24,535
Unemployment rate: 2.7%
Population: 192,965
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; retail; arts, recreation and entertainment
3. Fort Wayne, Indiana
Rent: $466
Average income: $24,135
Unemployment rate: 3.1%
Population: 200,592
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; manufacturing; retail
4. Wichita, Kansas
Rent: $513
Average income: $25,668
Unemployment rate: 3.7%
Population: 297,709
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; manufacturing; retail
5. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Rent: $680
Average income: $27,370
Unemployment rate: 3.3%
Population: 475,826
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; retail; professional, scientific and management
6. Omaha, Nebraska
Rent: $809
Average income: $28,545
Unemployment rate: 2.5%
Population: 343,864
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; professional, scientific and management; retail
7. Columbus, Ohio
Rent: $690
Average income: $25,781
Unemployment rate: 3.5%
Population: 664,580
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; retail; professional, scientific and management
8. Lexington, Kentucky
Rent: $736
Average income: $30,502
Unemployment rate: 3.2%
Population: 252,060
Biggest industries: Education and healthcare; retail; arts, recreation and entertainment
See a city that piques your interest? Keep an eye on The Penny Hoarder Jobs page on Facebook to see if anything pops up there. And make sure to check out our tips on moving cross country if you decide to pack up and move.
Bon voyage!
Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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