5 takeaways on how WA’s affordability crisis is hitting Tri-City families

A new study confirms the Tri-Cities has become disproportionately expensive, ranking 85th among 386 U.S. metro areas.

The costs hitting families hardest include child care, housing and health care. For parents, the numbers paint a stark picture of what it takes to raise a family in the region.

FULL STORY: ‘Affordability crisis.’ Tri-Cities is most expensive area in Eastern WA

Here are key takeaways:

• Child care is the single biggest expense for families, averaging about $12,400 per child — a 30% increase over the past five years. Infant care in Benton County runs up to $1,450 per month, or $17,420 annually.

• About 45% of Tri-Cities families receive financial aid subsidies for child care, underscoring how many households cannot cover these costs on their own.

• A family of two working adults and one child needs nearly $98,700 a year to cover basic costs in the Tri-Cities, according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. That’s more than Spokane’s roughly $96,600 estimate.

• The median home price in February was $444,500, and only about 20 of more than 1,200 Zillow listings were priced at $300,000 or under.

• Statewide, families spend 50% more on food than they did 10 years ago, and the cost of basic needs has grown about 30% in five years. Researchers wrote: “Washington’s affordability challenge is real, measurable, and growing.”

The Tri-Cities is now the most expensive metro area in Eastern Washington. Learn more about the issues families are facing in the full article.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by Cory McCoy. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.