The labor market has been one of the hottest topics these past twelve months and one that is catching even more limelight these days. This is due to the disruption ushered in by recent global events that have upended the normal way of living and made people reminisce about the rather 'peaceful' conditions of just a couple of years back. The coronavirus pandemic was the greatest global disaster in economic terms since the Great Recession of 2008, and it forced governments and central banks to funnel out generous stimulus packages and reduce interest rates with the aim of stimulating economic growth.
Yet, as is with most things, these measures had their blowback as well. The stimulus packages injected copious amounts of cash into the economy and low interest rates incentivized firms to expand their operations due to readily available cheap capital. Together, these influenced two of the most important variables in an economy - namely the inflation rate and the employment rate. Excess capital in the hands of consumers incentivized consumption at a time when firms were struggling to maintain their production capacities and it also left them with vast savings that continued to flow through the economy. This, coupled with low rates, further motivated firms to grow their operations and created new jobs - a fact further aided by large amounts of people leaving their jobs.
Together, these two placed quite a burden on the Federal Reserve. The central bank is responsible for ensuring that the U.S. dollar maintains its value, and the primary tool at its disposal is the interest rate. A higher interest rate reduces the flow of dollars in the economy and ends up driving its value and combating inflation. The Fed's fight has seen it rapidly increase interest rates, and a crucial metric serving as its 'eyes' is the labor market. The reasoning behind these moves is that as the labor market slows down and more people are laid off, people will have less disposable income to spend, causing a decline in prices. The Fed's chairman, Mr. Jerome Powell confirmed this during his latest press briefing where he shared:
Yeah, I don't think -- you know, I know what's printed in the summary of economic projections and all that. I don't think you can deduce exactly what you said about what participants think because you don't know what they were thinking for first quarter GDP at that point. They could have been thinking about a fairly low number. Anyway, in any case, I'll just say I continue to think that it's possible that this time is really different. And the reason is there's just so much excess demand, really, in the labor market. It's interesting as, you know, we've raised rates by 5 percentage points in 14 months, and the unemployment rate is 3 1/2 percent, pretty much where it was, even lower than where it was when we started. So job openings are still very, very high. We see by surveys and much, much evidence that conditions are cooling gradually. But it's -- it really is different. You know, it wasn't supposed to be possible for job openings to decline by as much of the -- as they've declined without unemployment going up. Well, that's what we've seen. So we -- there are no promises in this. But it just seems that -- to me that it's possible that we can continue to have a cooling in the labor market without having the big increases in unemployment that have gone with many, you know, prior episodes. Now, that would be against history. I fully appreciate that. That would be against the pattern. But I do think that it -- that this, that the situation in the labor market with so much excess demand, yet, you know, wages are actually -- wages have been moving down. Wage increases have been moving down, and that's a good sign, down to a more sustainable level.
Another disruption ushered in by the pandemic was in the form of housing prices. Immediately after the pandemic, the housing market slowed down as construction dropped. However, prices did not significantly fall since the stimulus checks and the low interest rates ensured that people were able to keep up with their mortgage payments. However, the aftermath of the lockdowns was a complete 180 degree shift with data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas showing that prices jumped by a whopping 19.2% in December 2021. The reason behind this is speculated that home buyers were being forward looking in their purchases, and since they expected prices to increase, they expedited their purchases and created a self fulfilling prophecy. However, the housing market is slowing down now, with prices down by 3.4% in March 2023.
So, home prices are falling and the Fed expects the labor market to slow down. Amidst this chaos, if you're wondering about the best places to live with cheap housing and lots of jobs, you've come to the right place.
Best Places to Live With Lots of Jobs and Cheap Housing
Pixabay/Public Domain
Our Methodology
For this article we did research to find US states with cheap housing and solid job opportunities. We used data from the Labor Department listing job opening rates by state, and data from Rocket Homes for median home prices by state. Then, the states were ranked in descending order for the job openings and ascending order for the housing prices. They were then awarded a score corresponding to their ranking in both lists. However, since the cheapest houses and the highest job rates should not necessarily correspond to living quality, the Federal Reserve's comparison of living standards was also included and awarded points similarly. To compile our list of the best places with lots of jobs and cheap housing we averaged the scores and chose the states with the best scores. Lower scores on this list correspond to better job opportunities and cheap housing.
Best Places to Live with Lots of Jobs and Cheap Housing
25. Colorado
Insider Monkey's Score: 24
Colorado is a Western American state which is quite a prosperous region as it ranks among the top ten U.S. states in terms of median household income.
24. Tennessee
Insider Monkey's Score: 24
Tennessee is a landlocked Southeastern state and it ranks quite low when it comes to median household income. However, it ranks high in the list of most populous U.S. states
23. Wisconsin
Insider Monkey's Score: 24
Wisconsin is a Midwestern state with a median household income of $69,943. It is one of the more important manufacturing centers in America.
22. Missouri
Insider Monkey's Score: 24
Missouri is another Midwestern state but it has a lower median household income than Wisconsin. The income is $63,594 and it was one of the later regions to join the Union.
21. Oklahoma
Insider Monkey's Score: 23
Oklahoma is a Southern U.S. state that sits at the Northern border of Texas. Median household income sits at $60,096 and it has a diversified economy made of a variety of different sections.
20. Massachusetts
Insider Monkey's Score: 23
Massachusetts is one of the most prosperous states in the U.S. despite being one of the smallest. It is the 44th largest state in America but has a high median household income of $86,566.
19. Maryland
Insider Monkey's Score: 23
Maryland is an Eastern coastal state. Like Massachusetts, it is one of the smallest states but has a high household income. Maryland is only slightly larger than Massachusetts, but it has the highest median household income in America of $97,332. Importantly, Maryland's home price of $361,900 is quite low than Massachusetts's $510,500.
18. Delaware
Insider Monkey's Score: 23
Delaware is the 49th largest state in America but has a high number of Fortune 500 companies due to favorable laws.
17. Mississippi
Insider Monkey's Score: 22
Mississippi is a Southeastern U.S. state with a median household income of $46,637.
16. Vermont
Insider Monkey's Score: 22
Vermont is an Eastern state which is one of the smallest in America in terms of area and in terms of population.
15. South Carolina
Insider Monkey's Score: 21
South Carolina is a Southeastern U.S. state with a median income of $62,542. It is one of the larger states in terms of population.
14. Minnesota
Insider Monkey's Score: 21
Minnesota is a Midwestern state which is one of the largest in terms of area.
13. Virginia
Insider Monkey's Score: 21
Virginia is one of the more prosperous regions in America with a median household income of $80,268.
12. Georgia
Insider Monkey's Score: 21
Georgia is a Southeastern state and one of the most populous regions in America.
11. Louisiana
Insider Monkey's Score: 20
Louisiana is one of the Southernmost mainland states in America.
10. North Dakota
Insider Monkey's Score: 20
North Dakota is right at the opposite of Louisiana since it is located at the Canadian border.
9. Kansas
Insider Monkey's Score: 20
Kansas is located smack in the center of America and houses close to three million people.
8. Illinois
Insider Monkey's Score: 19
Illinois is a Midwestern state with a median household income of $79,253.
7. Nebraska
Insider Monkey's Score: 18
Nebraska is another Midwestern state with a population of roughly two million people.
6. Arkansas
Insider Monkey's Score: 18
Arkansas is a Southern U.S. state and has a median household income of $50,784.
