Households making more than $100k = 38% would have some difficulty coming up with $1000

[alarimer]

69. I think it may be more complicated.

The rent was actually reasonable in Texas, where I lived for a while. But that was in a place with a lot of rental properties and before the housing crash.

Sales taxes, on the other hand were something close to 9 or 10%.

In the NC town where I lived, there was little in the way of apartments. Only a few complexes and one was outrageously expensive (and where a lot of Coast Guard lived- there was a big base in town). I had heard (but don't know if this is true) that the housing allowance that people in the Coast Guard got drove up rental prices in town.

I live in MD now, though, and we have an income tax and I pay way more than I have ever paid for rent in my life. It's the DC effect, I suppose. All housing is expensive here. I don't know if we will be able to buy, even though we have a good combined income. I refuse to commute more than 30 minutes.