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Buffalo, NY Tops List of Best Places to Live for Career-Focused Single Women

November 8, 2018

Owners.com identifies top 20 housing markets for women seeking increased job opportunities and higher salaries

 

ATLANTA, November 8, 2018 – Owners.com, an innovative online real estate brokerage, today released data ranking the 20 best U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for career-focused single women to live. Buffalo, NY comes out on top, followed by Baltimore, MD and Hartford, CT. Recent findings show that female unemployment is declining[1] and in 2017, homeownership among single women continued to grow (single women made up 18 percent of the national market and single men made up seven percent) and single women purchased slightly more expensive homes than single men.[2]

 Owners.com analyzed potential places to live for career-focused single women based on a variety of factors, including the percentage of single women homeowners, female median earnings and female unemployment rate. Reviewing this group, the study uncovered the following key insights:

  • The top 10 markets offer women more affordable housing. The average home price in the top 10 markets is $295,636, which is 17 percent less than the next 10 markets ($355,415 on average) which include distinctly expensive markets like San Francisco and Washington, DC.
  • Females in the top 10 markets are spending on average 10 percent less of their monthly salary on housing compared to the next 10 markets (32.9 percent on average versus 36.9 percent on average).
  • The average female unemployment rate in the top 20 markets (4.5 percent) is less than the national average, suggesting these markets offer more employment opportunities for women.
  • Compared to the national average, single women in the top 20 markets earned nearly 10 percent more ($46,524 on average versus $42,352 nationally), suggesting these markets offer higher paying job opportunities.


“With lower unemployment rates and higher incomes than the national average, single women are entering the real estate market at a fast pace and placing a huge value on owning a home,” said Daniel Maloney, Head of National Sales at Owners.com. “While many of the top 20 markets offer single, professional women strong career opportunities, they can also be considered expensive real estate markets. Smart buyers should look to work with a brokerage that can offer the technology, data and on-the-ground expertise of an agent, to help them make the most informed home purchase decision.”

 Top 20 Markets to Live for Single Women

 

 

MSA

Percentage Single Female Households

Female Median Earnings

Average Home Price

Percentage of Female Salary Going to Mortgage Payment

Unemployment Rate; Female

 

National (weighted)

13.2%

$42,352

$340,897

 

40.5%

 

5.2%

1

Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, NY

13.4%

$41,197

$175,578

22.1%

2.9%

2

Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD

14.5%

$50,411

$319,025

32.8%

4.7%

3

Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT

13.1%

$50,869

$243,666

24.8%

4.4%

4

Richmond, VA

14.4%

$42,277

$270,732

33.2%

4.5%

5

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

11.8%

$54,416

$509,664

48.5%

4.1%

6

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

13.6%

$41,645

$307,554

38.2%

4.4%

7

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

14.9%

$51,099

$516,856

52.4%

5.8%

8

Columbus, OH

12.7%

$41,753

$226,688

28.1%

4.2%

9

St. Louis, MO-IL

13.4%

$41,364

$215,752

27.0%

4.4%

10

Rochester, NY

13.1%

$40,753

$170,845

21.7%

4.2%

11

Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

13.9%

$43,973

$305,324

35.9%

5.2%

12

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI

10.0%

$47,845

$288,326

31.2%

2.9%

13

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

12.3%

$60,358

$456,316

39.1%

4.9%

14

Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN

13.1%

$40,820

$191,045

24.2%

4.3%

15

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA

14.8%

$42,003

$250,082

30.8%

5.3%

16

Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN

12.8%

$41,867

$197,441

24.4%

4.4%

17

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

14.1%

$46,494

$275,478

30.7%

5.6%

18

Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO

10.4%

$47,373

$415,370

45.4%

3.6%

19

Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI

12.9%

$42,208

$220,480

27.0%

5.0%

20

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA

10.8%

$61,764

$954,293

80.0%

4.4%

 

Methodology  

Owners.com identified all MSAs with over one million people. Owners.com used three metrics to identify and rank the top 20 markets for single, professional women to live in the United States. The MSAs were measured based on three key metrics, which were scaled, weighted and summed. The national average data was weighted across the U.S. population. The weights for each metric are as follows:

About Owners.com®

Owners.com is a technology-driven brokerage at the forefront of the real estate revolution. With local real estate expertise, financing and closing services and unique digital experiences, Owners.com and its affiliates offer a complete real estate solution that aims to anticipate and fulfill the dreams of consumers. For more information or to contact a local Owners.com real estate agent, visit Owners.com or follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn.

 About Altisource®

Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ: ASPS) is an integrated service provider and marketplace for the real estate and mortgage industries. Combining operational excellence with a suite of innovative services and technologies, Altisource helps solve the demands of the ever-changing markets we serve. Additional information is available at altisource.com.


 

[1] “Unemployment rate of women in the United States from 1990 to 2017,” The Statistics Portal, https://www.statista.com/statistics/193944/unemployment-rate-of-women-in-the-us-since-1990/

[2] “National Association of Realtors®' 2017 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers,”  https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/first-time-buyers-stifled-by-low-supply-affordability-2017-buyer-and-seller-survey