How Many Earners?
One of the core challenges to the adequate provision of affordable housing in the region is the gap between the region’s comparatively lower wages and high housing costs. This dashboard illustrates how many wage earners in top industries in the region and towns are needed to buy or to rent a home if housing costs are not to exceed 30% of income. In all of Barnstable County’s top five industries by average annual monthly employment (Accommodations and Food Services, Health Care and Social Assistance, Retail Trade, Construction, and Education in 2023), more than one earner per household is needed to affordably purchase a home at median prices. For Barnstable County, the number of required earners in 2023 ranged from a low of 3.0 in Construction to a high of 6.0 in Accommodations and Food Services. At the town level, it ranged from a low of 1.4 in Professional and Technical Services in Truro to a high of 7.5 in Retail Trade in Wellfleet, reflecting the varying median housing prices and average wages in each town.