10 Least Affordable Cities To Spend Your Working Years

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One of the major legacies of the COVID-19 pandemic is its impact on the workforce. A steep rise in remote work during the pandemic has led to more employees demanding remote or hybrid options.

Meanwhile, the labor shortage that began during COVID has tipped the balance of power firmly in favor of employees, who are now hopping between jobs at a much higher rate than ever before to chase better opportunities. The average tenure with a single employer is now only 4.1 years, according to Zippia, a career resources site.

The upshot is that many workers have much greater latitude to choose where they want to spend their working years — especially if they have 100% remote jobs. The question then becomes whether they can afford to live in the place they want to spend their working years.

A new study from financial services company Empower analyzed 113 U.S. cities across multiple categories to determine which were the most affordable for working Americans, the least affordable, and the most desirable. Empower also surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults — including 800 still in the workforce — about where they want to live and what criteria they look for when deciding where to call home.

The survey was conducted in July 2023 by Fractl on behalf of Empower. The working adults ranking was based on the following variables and weights:

• Home affordability: 30% of the overall score.
• Average income: 30% of the overall score.
• Cost of living: 25% of the overall score.
• Labor force participation based on percentage of employed residents: 15% of the overall score.

To determine where working adults most want to live, Empower ranked some of their top priorities. Cost of living came in first, with 55% of respondents mentioning it. Other top priorities cited by at least one-fifth of respondents are: being close to family (mentioned by 30%), crime (28%), employment opportunities (27%), home prices (24%) and weather (22%).

The five cities that topped the list of most desirable places to work were Denver, San Diego, New York, Charlotte and Seattle.

California Is Exceedingly Expensive

According to Empower’s cost metrics, the state you want to avoid if you’re looking for an affordable city to work in is California, which placed seven cities among the 10 worst for affordability. Here are the 10 least affordable cities in the country for working adults:

1. Salinas, California.
2. Los Angeles, California.
3. San Francisco, California.
4. Honolulu, Hawaii.
5. San Jose, California.
6. Santa Rosa, California.
7. Miami, Florida.
8. Boston, Massachusetts.
9. San Diego, California.
10. Sacramento, California.

On the other end of the spectrum, cities in the central part of the country dominated the list of those cheapest to work in. Here are the 10 most affordable cities among the 113 analyzed by Empower:

1. Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
2. Springfield, Illinois.
3. Wichita, Kansas.
4. Virginia Beach, Virginia.
5. Des Moines, Iowa.
6. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
7. Lincoln, Nebraska.
8. Anchorage, Alaska.
9. Omaha, Nebraska.
10. McAllen, Texas.

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