The rent may seem high in Seattle, but report shows it could be much worse [View all]

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Rents in Seattle may seem high, but it looks like the number of people in the city who spend more than half their income on rent is dropping.

That's according to data parsed by Seattle Times number cruncher Gene Balk, who found that at 20 percent, Seattle has the lowest percentage of people who spend half their salaries on rent of all the major U.S. cities. That still may seem like a lot, but compare that to Detroit, where more than 43 percent of people are spending half their salaries on rent, and things look a bit better.

Balk also found that despite significant growth in the number of renters in Seattle, up 29,000 since 2005, the number of people paying half their income in rent declined by 2,000.

It's an interesting finding, considering reports that the minimum wage needed to afford a median-priced rental home in Seattle is $44 a hour, according to Zillow.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2015/05/the-rent-may-seem-high-in-seattle-but-report-shows.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2015-05-07&u=ColXVN5SPzQtLHFP87ho2w07857290&t=1431016108