CLEVELAND — The economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt across the nation. Many experts believe that a major migration shift is coming.
In fact, according to recent data, 22% of U.S. adults changed their residence or knew someone who did because of the pandemic.
As the need to live in close proximity to work has shifted for many Americans, more affordable housing is a particularly strong draw for residents looking to move.
Researchers at HireAHelper, a marketplace for local moving companies, analyzed median rental prices and wage statistics across the United States to find the most and least expensive locations to sign a new rental agreement.
In Cleveland, prospective renters need to work 140 hours in order to sign a rental agreement, compared to the national average of 203 hours. Out of all metropolitan areas with at least 500,000 residents in the United States, Cleveland is the 5th most affordable for new renters.
The average cost of first month's rent + last month's rent + security deposit in the Cleveland-Elyria metro area is $2,730. The median 2-bedroom monthly rent is $910. The median hourly wage: $19.44
By comparison, the national median cost of a two-bedroom rental is $1,293 and the median wage is $19.14 per hour. This means that a typical renter would need to have $3,879 saved to sign the rental agreement, which would require 203 hours of work.
Not surprisingly, the state of Ohio saw other cities crack the list for least expensive locations in the country to sign a new rental agreement. In fact, three of the top five cites were from the Buckeye State:
- Dayton
- Toledo
- Youngstown-Warren-Boardman
- Winston-Salem, NC
- Cleveland
In addition, Akron was #9 on the list, followed by Cincinnati at #10.
When looking at the most and least expensive states in America to sign a new rental agreement, Ohio came in as the 4th least expensive state behind North Dakota, Iowa and Wyoming.
