Mapping The U.S. Zip Codes Where “The Rent Is Too Damn High”

As America’s young snowflakes graduate their liberal bastions of higher education and get ready to migrate around the U.S., at least those who were lucky enough to actually find a job after graduation and avoid the embarrassment of moving back home with mom and dad, we thought it would be helpful to take a look at where they might get the most safe space square footage for their money. 

And while it may come as a complete ‘shock’ to our readers, those moving to New York and California will seemingly have the hardest time covering monthly rent payments according to the following map from Rent Cafe:

In fact, aside from one zip code in Boston, every single one of the top 20 most expensive zip codes in the country come from a couple of square miles of real estate in Manhattan and San Francisco.

Meanwhile, the more affordable areas seem to be concentrated in the ‘Red States’ in the southeast and midwest.

Of course, it’s not just high rents that people in NY and CA have to contend with as many of the states with the highest rents also have the highest state income tax rates. 

All of which probably helps explains why folks in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco are packing up and moving out by the 1,000s.  Not surprisingly, America’s ‘domestic migrants’ are flocking to areas with a lower cost of living, lower/no state income taxes, less regulations and higher job growth (aka “Red” states). 

Could it be that while the enlightened citizens of NY and CA love to ‘preach’ their liberal policies they prefer to ‘practice’ their citizenship in states that afford them the economic benefits of conservatism?