Simple interactive tool to teach students the variance in the cost of living within the United States. Since housing (rent or mortgage) is usually the single biggest cost factor in an individual’s budget, this is an important concept for students to grasp.

Students can click on a city on the map to collect the information about that metro area’s housing market:

Questions for students:

• Pick three cities where you think you might be interested in living after college.
• Compare the following data for those cities:
  • Mortgage rates
  • Home Price
  • Monthly payment
  • Salary
• Are there any surprises when you compare the three cities? How much difference is there in the salary required to afford a house? How might this impact your decision making?
• What key assumption seems to be the subject of the most comments? How will adjusting that assumption impact how much salary is required to afford a home?
• Bonus: How does the researcher determine how much salary is required to cover the monthly payment? What is the formula that he uses to come up with the minimum salary figure? Does this seem reasonable?

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Interested in a comprehensive lesson on mortgages, check out the NGPF Lesson on How to Calculate Mortgages!

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.