3rd-Best City for College Grads - Affordable Housing - Denver, CO

As recently reported in The Denver Business Journal, we are near the top of the list when it comes to recent college graduates finding good jobs paired with housing that they can afford. I, for one, don't find this surprising for many reasons. First of all, as the national unemployment rate hovers around 10%, here in Denver it was only 8.5% in March. While all of Colorado had only a 7.9% unemployment rate. This has actually been the trend throughout the economic downturn.

But, if you are reading this blog you might want to know what ranking third in the best city for college grads study has to do with Stapleton? Isn't Stapleton beyond the price range of those fresh out of college? Or won't these grads have to rent in order to live here?

Not necessarily. Take the affordable housing units for example. To qualify for the Denver affordable housing program, a buyer must fall under certain income limits at time of purchase which are based on household size (see table below). The key phrase being "at time of purchase". So many of the buyers of these homes are upwardly mobile. They are either at the beginning stages of a career or have chosen a career path that puts them in this catagory: i.e. teachers, nurses, etc. They also may be college students themselves. According to Damon Knop of the Affordable Connection Team "several of the affordable units in Stapleton are filled with couples or families where one person is still in school, or going back to school, while the other is working".

So, while the study cited in the Denver Business Journal was based on average rental cost, these young college grads (or soon to be grads) can actually become homeowners for relatively the same out-of-pocket every month. Likewise, as their careers progress over the next few years and they put down their roots, they can eventually decide to stick around and upgrade into a bigger home in the area. Which will continue to stengthen our community as well as the housing market.

To learn more about the affordable housing program and see Damon's current listings visit the Affordable Connection Team website, which is where I found the information for this table: