What are the 7 most affordable and friendly cities for LGBTQ families
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What are the 7 most affordable and friendly cities for LGBTQ families?
On this Queer Money®, we’re sharing the 7 most affordable and friendly cities for LGBTQ families on our affordable, LGBTQ+-friendly city series.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, comes in at #7. Cambridge scored really high in terms of median and average incomes. It has the highest cost of living on this list at 173.7% of the national average. Niche.com named Cambridge as the #5 best city for ALL families.
Irvine, California, came in at #6. It has the highest rent on this list, at $3,411 a month for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment. Irvine has the highest home values, at $1.3 million. It has really high median and average incomes to help offset those costs. Niche.com named Irvine the #6 best city for ALL families.
Boulder, Colorado, came in at #5. Boulder scored above average for rent, home values, and cost of living. It also came in well above average for median and average incomes. Niche.com named Boulder the #22 best city for ALL families.
Chicago, Illinois, came in at #4. Its home values fell below the national average at $291,000, but its median and average incomes were above average.
Syracuse, New York, came in at #3. Syracuse is one of the cheapest places on this list to live. It has the second lowest rent at $1,338 a month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. Syracuse has the lowest home value at $158,000. It has the lowest cost of living at 85.9% of the national average. Syracuse has the lowest median income at $55,000 and average incomes at $69,000. It might be a great place to use the geoarbitrage theory. Syracuse got the #168 spot on Niche.com, which is the lowest ranking on this list of 7. Syracuse came in at #5 for most affordable, LGBTQ+ friendly in blue states on Queer Money® episode #497. Syracuse came in at #2 for the most affordable transgender-friendly city on Queer Money® episode #517.
It is worth noting that for all of the 150 cities looked at, we used Niche.com as the data source, which is great for families. Double-weighted all the variables having to do with being an LGBTQ parent, which includes none being states that have laws that permit discrimination in the adoption and foster care system and all being in states that permit second-parent adoptions regardless of the genders of the couple. We included the cost of living, income, and HRC MEI. For that information, you can grab the spreadsheets at queermoneypodcast.com/cities. Most of these places are much more expensive than what we’d normally include on an “affordability” lists. Mainly because these are in the blue states, which have really good school districts with higher incomes, which equals higher property taxes and higher cost of living, and that often means the incomes are higher.
We have 3 honorable mentions. Boston coming in at #10. San Diego is coming in at #14, and Denver is coming in at #16.
Columbia, Maryland, came in at #2. Columbia has the highest median income at $94,000 and the highest average income on this list at $119,000. Otherwise, it is a little cheaper than the rest of this list. Columbia has the highest ranking on this list, ranked on Niche.com. Niche.com named Columbia #4 as the best city for ALL families. Columbia is a 25-mile drive from Baltimore. Baltimore scored #6 for most affordable transgender-friendly cities on Queer Money® episode #517.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, came in at #1. Pittsburgh has the lowest rent for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment at $1,333 a month. It has the second lowest home value at $193,000. Pittsburgh has the second lowest cost of living at 94.7% of the national average. Pittsburgh scored #1 for the most affordable, LGBTQ+-friendly city for Pennsylvania on Queer Money® episode #407. Pittsburgh came in at #3 for the most affordable, LGBTQ+ friendly city in blue states.
If you’d like to see the data for this growing series, get the dynamic list of Affordable LGBTQ+ Friendly Cities in the U.S. here or click the link in your podcast player for a growing analysis.
For the resources and to connect with our guests, get the show notes at: https://queermoneypodcast.com/subscribe.
Previous Bonus Podcast Episodes
- Top 5 Most Affordable LGBTQ+ Friendly Cities for Outdoor Activities
- Top 10 Most Affordable Transgender Friendly Cities
- Top 5 Most Expensive LGBTQ Friendly Cities
Click below to listen to this bonus episode.