The U.S. metros that offer the best – and worst – lives for the middle class

(NEXSTAR) – When it comes to the best places in the U.S. for middle- and working-class people, a new study suggests you shouldn’t rule out cities with some of the least affordable homes.

San Jose, California, where the median home price is over $1.3 million, is at the top of the list of 50 major metro areas, according to research group Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP).

In contrast, 150 miles southeast is Fresno, California, the worst city at number 50, where the median home price is around $360,000.

LISEP researchers explained that while San Jose and San Francisco have seen some of the highest rates of inflation since 2005, wage rates have also shot up. Meanwhile in Fresno, the cost of living jumped 66.7% since 2005, with a spike in home prices, while the typical worker’s buying power fell by 3% during that same period. As a result, the study found that almost 60% of middle class and working households in Fresno are not able to cover all of their basic needs.

In order to dive deeper into the livability of different regions across the U.S., researchers tracked price changes for housing, food, childcare and other necessities (true living cost); wages adjusted for the cost of living for all workers, including part-time laborers and those seeking a job (true weekly earnings); and the percentage of the population unable to find a full-time, living-wage job (true rate of unemployment out of the population).

Top 10 U.S. metro areas

Rank	Metro Area	True Rate of Unemployment	True Weekly Earnings	True Living Cost Change Since 2005
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	42.5%	$1,515	78.5%
2	Austin-Round Rock, TX	42.8%	$1,126	60.8%
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	47.4%	$1,370	70.6%
4	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	45.4%	$1,110	56.7%
5	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	42.9%	$1,241	61.0%
6	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	42.8%	$1,071	58.3%
7	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	47.2%	$1,095	74.1%
8	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI	49.0%	$966	52.3%
9	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO	42.3%	$1,099	66.8%
10	Salt Lake City, UT	43.4%	$933	64.6%

Bottom 10 U.S. metro areas

Rank	Metro Area	True Rate of Unemployment	True Weekly Earnings	True Living Cost Change Since 2005
40	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	51.4%	$857	56.8%
40	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	53.0%	$879	67.0%
42	Oklahoma City, OK	50.8%	$805	61.1%
43	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	52.5%	$861	66.0%
44	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	57.9%	$827	55.3%
45	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	51.3%	$992	67.7%
46	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	55.4%	$804	57.6%
47	Tulsa, OK	54.7%	$770	59.6%
48	Urban Honolulu, HI	53.3%	$920	79.9%
49	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV	54.4%	$747	52.2%
50	Fresno, CA	57.3%	$753	66.7%

See the full study results here.

“The United States is not a single economy — it’s an amalgamation of hundreds, even thousands, of regional economies,” LISEP Chairman Gene Ludwig said in a news release. “Understanding the dynamics of those economies and how they impact low- and moderate-income populations  is critical to responsible policymaking. That is why this analysis is so important.”

The report comes after several years of soaring inflation and a boom in housing prices that benefitted homeowners but pushed the purchase of a home out of reach for many.

In the state of California, only 15% of households could afford to buy a home during the third quarter of 2023, the California Association of Realtors found in a Nov. 10 study.

A similar story has played across the nation, as the National Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index hit a historic low in August amid stubbornly high mortgage rates.

Meantime, Americans are hardly celebrating recently-cool inflation numbers. A recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that two-thirds of respondents said their expenses have risen, but only one third said their income has as well.