Houston hit by expensive commute and utilities

Houston was ranked as the city with the fourth most expensive commuting and utility costs, according to a Trulia study released today.

The study found that 50.1 percent of the median monthly middle-class income in Houston is spent on housing, commuting and utilities. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) considers housing expenditures greater than 31 percent of income as unaffordable. Housing costs, at 34.9 percent of middle-class income, puts it just above the affordability line, but 10.3 percent is spent on commuting and 4.9 percent is spent on utilities for a total of 15.2 percent.

By comparison, Miami was the most expensive city for utility and commuting costs, with 16.9 percent of the median monthly middle-class income going towards utilities. The remaining 52.3 percent is spent on housing.

Cheap Housing, not Cheap Transportation

One trend the report found was that, while the top 10 most affordable markets saw either a decrease in costs, or at most, a minimal 0.7 percent increase, the most expensive housing markets continued to get less affordable, with middle-class homebuyers having to spend from 1.9 percent to a staggering 19.7 percent more since Sept. 2014.

Another trend was how in some cases, looking purely at housing costs can be deceptive. Areas such as Detroit, Birmingham and Philadelphia – all of which would normally be considered affordable thanks to low housing costs – are pushed over HUD’s 31 percent threshold by having some of the nation’s highest utility and commuting costs.

Meanwhile, San Francisco had the second cheapest utility and commuting cost thanks to its extensive public transportation and mild climate, making the 77 percent of monthly median income spent on the home easier to stomach, if only just.