In September, The Economist released its third annual “Carrie Bradshaw index,” named after the protagonist of the hit TV show “Sex and the City.” The report ranks the U.S. cities where Americans can afford to live alone.
The index was named after the character because, on the show, she lives in a studio apartment in the West Village and it is highly unlikely that she could afford it on a writer’s salary now, Lizzy Peet, a data researcher at The Economist, tells CNBC Make It.
“It all came about from a sort of snappy way to sum up the aspiration, a sort of quality of living by yourself in a big city for the first time. How much would you have to earn to afford that? And how much is that a realist prospect?” she says.
To rank the U.S. cities, The Economist used the rule that a tenant should spend no more than 30% of their gross income on rent. That, in combination with using rental prices from Zumper, led to the calculation of the salary needed to afford a typical studio in each city. Each city was given a “Bradshaw score” where a value more than one means an average studio apartment is affordable and less than one means housing is unaffordable.
“Cities that build a lot or maybe that have less demand or maybe have less population demand on rent are the kind of cities that are looking more affordable,” Peet says.
