Marion County OR, Clark County WA now among unaffordable counties for homeownership
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Salem, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area residents upset about rising home prices may be onto something.
A new analysis by MoneyGeek listed Marion County in Oregon and Clark County in Washington among the top 26 newly unaffordable counties in the United States.
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Marion County in Oregon was listed at No. 22, while Washington’s Clark County made the No. 26 spot.
The analysis found that in Marion County, home price appreciation has grown by nearly 26%, with the median home price being $341,919. With the median income in the county being $31,677, home costs account for 72% of income, according to MoneyGeek.
Meanwhile, in Clark County, Washington, home price appreciation has also risen to 26% in the last three years, with the median home price at $430,970. With the median income in the county at $41,096, home costs are 69% of income, according to the analysis.
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In fact, these weren’t the only counties in the Pacific Northwest to make the list. Six others made the list, including Boise, Idaho’s Ada County, which came in at No. 1 on the list. Kitsap, Spokane, Snohomish, Pierce and Thurston counties in Washington state were also added to the list as “newly unaffordable.”
Check out the full list below:
| Ranking | County and State | Metro area |
| 1 | Ada County, Idaho | Boise City |
| 2 | Collier County, Fla | Naples – Immokalee – Marco Island |
| 3 | Travis County, Texas | Austin—Round Rock |
| 4 | Williamson County, Texas | Austin—Round Rock |
| 5 | Washoe County, Nevada | Reno |
| 6 | Douglas County, Colo | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood |
| 7 | Davis County, Utah | Ogden-Clearfield |
| 8th | Larimer County, Colorado | FortCollins |
| 9 | Salt Lake County, Utah | Salt Lake City |
| 10 | Kitsap County, Washington | Bremerton-Silverdale |
| 11 | St. John’s County, Florida | Jacksonville |
| 12 | Sacramento County, California | Sacramento-Roseville-Arden |
| 13 | Spokane County, Washington | Spokane-Spokane Valley |
| 14 | Snohomish County, Washington | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue |
| 15 | Merced County, California | Mercedes |
| 16 | Clark County, Nevada | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise |
| 17 | Pierce County, Washington | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue |
| 18 | Sarasota County, Fla | North Port – Sarasota – Bradenton |
| 19 | Charleston County, South Carolina | Charleston-North Charleston |
| 20 | Thurston County, Washington | Olympia-Tumwater |
| 21 | Jefferson County, Colorado | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood |
| 22 | Marion County, Oregon | salem |
| 23 | Collin County, Texas | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington |
| 24 | Maricopa County, Arizona | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale |
| 25 | Buncombe County, North Carolina | Asheville |
| 26 | Clark County, Washington | vancouver |
Analysts with MoneyGeek attribute the increase in unaffordable housing in US counties as a result of continuing pandemic fallout due to supply chain-related shortages for new housing and the rise of people working remotely and opting for living away from cities.