Florida is Least Affordable State to Live in US

*Florida is now one of the least affordable places to live in the U.S.

The average monthly cost for a one-bedroom apartment in Tampa is $1,682, up 32.4% since the year before, according to rent.com.

Here’s more from the report via WFLA.com:

In St. Petersburg, it’s $1,890 or 19.6% higher than 2021. Orlando? $2,061, up 38.2%. In Jacksonville, rent costs were up 11.2% to $1,401 per month. Miami rent for a one-bedroom was reported at $2,744 per month, up 21.6%. Tampa’s rent was up 41.9%, higher than Miami’s 41.7% increase from the year before. Prices in Tampa are reported at $2,178. Miami costs $3,425 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. Jacksonville was recorded at $1,651, up 15.6%, while Orlando was $2,587, up 30.2% and Hialeah at $2,953, a 35.6% increase.

Two-bedroom rental costs in these cities are even higher.

Nationwide, rental costs for one and two-bedroom apartments have increased by an average of 19% over the past year, according to the report.

“State to state, rent prices are up nearly across the board compared to this time last year. More than 95 percent of states have seen significant increases in rent prices for both apartment types,” Rent.com reported.

According to real estate company Redfin, a third of all U.S. renters can’t afford to buy a home and 30% can’t save up for a down payment.

“A lot of American renters want to buy a home, but they’re stuck renting because it’s simply too expensive to break into the housing market,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “That’s especially true since they’re often competing against investors or other deep-pocketed individual buyers. Unfortunately, the fact that buying a home is out of reach for so many Americans is a driver of inequality: Not owning a home means not benefiting from rising home values, one of the main ways to create and pass down generational wealth in this country.”

“But the housing market is seeing early signs of a cooldown, which could benefit first-time homebuyers,” Fairweather continued. “Mortgage rates are rising fast, which is a double-edged sword: Higher rates mean higher monthly mortgage payments, but they will also eventually ease competition for homes, making it so fewer houses sell above their asking price.”