Community Corner

Housing and Transportation Affordability in Greater Boston

Housing and transportation costs should be less than 45 percent of your income. Are you under that goal?

Housing is generally the largest expense anyone has to deal with, but it's not the only factor you should consider when buying a home. Sure, you may find a cheper home the further you move from Boston, but the transportation costs of getting to and from work everyday offset some of those gains, according to an index compiled by the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

The group, funded by the Brookings Institution, developed the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index to examine how transportation costs, when added to housing costs, affects the overall affordability of a community (you can read about the methodology used here).

The rule of thumb adopted by the study states that housing is affordable if it's 30 percent or less of your total income. Transportation costs should account for 15 percent or less. Taken together, your combined housing and transportation costs should total 45 percent or less of your total income.

Find out what's happening in Stonehamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

An interactive map of the region shows that many Greater Boston communities have housing costs that average less than 30 percent of income, but when combined with transportation costs, the number exceeds the 45 percent threshold. That makes seemingly affordable neighborhoods tougher than expected on family pocketbooks.

The following chart compares Stoneham with surrounding communities. At 27.29 percent, the town's average housing cost makes it appear to be an affordable community. But when you add transportation costs, the percentage swells above the 45 percent combined percentage, making Stoneham less of a bargain than it seems.

Find out what's happening in Stonehamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

City/Town Housing as percentage of income Housing + Transportation as percentage of income Arlington 28.06% 44.92% Boston 24.88% 38.08% Cambridge 27.18% 39.24% Everett 22.31% 37.64%
Lynnfield 37.64% 56.76% Malden 24.6% 40.96% Medford 26.39%

42.84%

Melrose 28.53% 47.53% Reading 33.03% 54.34% Revere 23.13% 40.01% Saugus 24.47% 44.56% Somerville 24.95% 38.12% Stoneham 27.29% 47.79% Wakefield 27.89% 48.32% Winchester 39.89%

60.47%

Woburn 24.93%

45.12%

Are you below the 45 percent threshold? Do you think the area is an affordable place to live? Tell us in the comments!


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