Graph of the Day – Average Rent cost

The average rent for a one bedroom apartment in the U.S. in 2020 was $1098 a month. While there has been a large trend of Californians moving to Texas due to rent, there still exists a large affordability crisis. Unlike Europe, the U.S. does not have a land shortage. The exponential rent and land cost increases are due to demand on a prolific scale. The center of the country is essentially hollowed out on this graph, with the coasts increasing in rent costs.

The propensity for people to move to the coast has yielded an untenable situation for all but the highest paid professionals, and there needs to be a rework of the habitability of the U.S. in the years to come. With remote working, workers are able to engage in diaspora toward the center of the country, and reimagine what it means to locate in a “habitable” area. The U.S. is not short on beautiful landscapes and resources toward the center, and we may find that lakes and rivers give the water view that oceans can’t.