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Combining Census Bureau and Zillow Housing Data Show Rise in Rental Prices and Home Values in Tech-Rich Areas

The U.S. Census Bureau is taking notice of the impact tech companies like Amazon, Facebook and others are having on the real estate market in the cities where these companies have a big presence. In places like Seattle and California, home prices have increased so much there are households making more than $100,000 per year yet find themselves living in their cars.

The Bureau analyzed Zillow data to compare housing costs in impacted areas and found some astonishing trends. What’s more, they found that people are moving from those cities to more affordable areas of the country. However, those more “affordable” areas are becoming less affordable due to the influx of new people with large pocketbooks – often larger than those of locals living in the areas where they are moving to. For example, in 2006, Dallas was 46% more affordable than Southern California, but in 2014, Dallas was only 20% more affordable than Southern California.