Las Vegas area home prices rise 5.5 times faster than local wages

Would-be home buyers in Las Vegas and across Nevada face rising odds against finding an affordable home.

Las Vegas Valley home prices have jumped 5.5 times faster than workers’ wages since 2011, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing a new study by TruckInfo.net. The wage-price gap across the state is higher.

This means Las Vegas area home prices rose 217 percent since 2011, compared to a 39 percent wage uptick.

The Silver State, where home prices grew six times faster than paychecks between 2011 and 2022, led the nation, according to the study, which crunched Zillow home prices and U.S. Census data.

“Elementary teachers in Nevada have been particularly impacted, with home inflation outpacing their wages by (a rate of) 17.9,” the report said. “Truck drivers in Nevada saw home prices increase 16.9 times faster than their wages.”

The gap didn’t improve much last year as wages most likely grew less than 5 percent, according to Census figures. At the same time, home prices around Las Vegas fell 1 percent.

In terms of metros, only the Detroit market saw a bigger increase in the gap between wages and home prices, as the Motor City’s discrepancy grew 6.7 times, according to the Review-Journal.

A typical home in the Las Vegas Valley now lists for $400,354. Since 2011, overall home prices have shot up $253,000. 

“To compare home affordability over time and across geographies, a commonly used metric is the home-price-to-income ratio,” the study said.

From 1985 to 1999, the home-price-to-income ratio was 2.6. As of 2022, the national home-price-to-income ratio was 6.7, according to the study. That means homes are 2.5 times less affordable today than a quarter century ago.

— Dana Bartholomew

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