Half of construction site workers in Asheville earn less than the $59,840 needed to rent a one-bedroom apartment and civil engineers earning nearly $100,000 a year find it difficult to afford a home in the city, according to a recent report by the National Housing Conference titled “Priced Out: When a good job isn’t enough.”
The report examines the nationwide housing affordability crisis impacting workers across all income levels. The authors cite “decades of underbuilding, rising interest rates, and wage stagnation” for pushing homeownership and rental housing further out of reach for many workers. It used its Paycheck to Paycheck database to track affordability changes in 390 metropolitan statistical areas from 2019 to 2024. The authors shared case studies from Asheville; Boise, Idaho; Houston; Tampa, Florida; and Seattle.
“These findings underscore the depth and breadth of the housing crisis, which is increasingly pricing out working families across the country — regardless of geography or profession,” said David M. Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference. “The housing affordability crisis is now hitting families in every metro area, for nearly every occupation.”…