University of Colorado student Tony Richard estimates he spends about 75 percent of his income on rent and utilities for his small Boulder apartment.
Richard, 20, is among the increasing number of Boulder residents who are finding it tougher to live in a town where housing prices are among the highest in the metropolitan region.
About 44 percent of renters in Boulder paid at least half their income for housing last year – a higher percentage than in any other city in the country, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Most cities with high percentages of people carrying heavy rental costs are in fast-growing parts of the West and the Southeastern United States, census numbers show. Fort Collins ranks 26th nationally, with 36.3 percent of renters paying more than half their income for housing.
Richard, who’s majoring in molecular and cellular-developmental biology with a minor in Russian, works about 30 hours a week in the leasing office for Boardwalk Realty Inc. and takes out student loans to make ends meet.
His situation is far from unique. High real-estate prices in Boulder drive up rental rates, which force students and others to pay large shares of their income on housing, said Phil Swan, president and managing broker for Four Star Realty in Boulder.
“Everything is relative to the underlying price of the real estate itself,” he said. “In order to cover mortgage and other expenses on rental property, you’ve got to charge high rent.”
Growth restrictions also push rents up, Swan said. No new apartments are being built in Boulder, but people are still moving to the community, and they want to be centrally located.
The high cost of buying real estate is precisely what keeps Bernard Hewitt and his wife, Jennifer, in the 1,200-square-foot apartment they pay $1,200 a month for. Hewitt said he looked at a three-bedroom ranch with an asking price of $432,500 and decided to stay put.
“The prices in Boulder are way out of whack,” said Hewitt, state manager for the energy- conservation company Utility Management Association.
With an annual income exceeding $100,000, Hewitt estimates about 15 percent of his earnings go toward housing.
Because of the student population, the percentage of renters in Boulder is higher than in many other communities, and the jobs they work don’t typically pay well.
“Boulder has a large base of people who aren’t wealthy who want to live in Boulder,” said Tim Bentz, general manager for Boardwalk Realty. “People will sacrifice their car as long as they can live within walking distance to the Pearl Street Mall and downtown. If you eliminate your car expense, you can pay more for rent.”
It’s also tough to find rental property. The 300 units Bentz manages are 100 percent occupied, and the 600 units in Swan’s portfolio are 98 percent occupied.
Eugene Margolis, 55, pays $850 a month for the two-bedroom apartment he rents in southeast Boulder. Margolis, owner of Infinity Photo-Optical, chooses to rent because of the low-maintenance lifestyle. Rent, he says, is a small percent of his income.
“My situation is different. I put most of my money back into the business,” he said. “I’m single, so I don’t support a family, and I live very frugally.
“I’ve been living like a college student since college.”
Staff writer Margaret Jackson can be reached at 303-954-1473 or mjackson@ denverpost.com.
Pricey pads
Housing units where at least half of household income is spent on rent:
Boulder
44.1%
College
Station,
Texas
41.9%
Compton,
Calif.
41.8%
Passaic, N.J.
41.5%
Champaign, Ill.
41.0%
Boca Raton, Fla.
40.3%
Source: U.S. Census
