Finding a place to live is becoming increasingly burdensome on Phoenix families as housing costs steadily increase while wages stagnate.
Phoenix residents face some of the highest inflation rates in the country, according to WalletHub. Increases in gas, grocery, and entertainment prices have been evident recently, but housing prices have been on a steady climb for over a decade now.
Rentdata.org, an organization that compiles housing costs from across the country, records median rent price in the Phoenix area in 2012 at $619 for a studio apartment. Today, that same studio in 2021 has almost doubled in price.
Sheena King, a single mother working in insurance, said she plans to move out of state as soon as possible because she has been priced out of her neighborhood.
“My rent was $795 a month for a two bedroom in 2016 when we moved to Arizona. I moved here because it had the best cost of living per pay,” King said. “My rent today is $2300 for the same 2 bedroom. I used to live comfortably and had $20,000 in savings with zero debt but now my credit cards are maxed out and we live paycheck to paycheck, I have $9 until payday and an empty tank.”
King said she has tried multiple times to buy a house, but was always beat out by a cash offer.
“They’re going to push the workers out of the area, and here unfortunately…there’s no ‘cheaper’ suburbs to go to,” she said.
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