Just how unaffordable is Boston for average city residents?

Boston’s affordability issues have been well documented, but a new analysis by the Boston Redevelopment Authority has raised awareness on just how unaffordable Boston truly is. We’ve taken a look at the new report and have highlighted the three most shocking facts on inequality in Boston.

1. Low Pay, High Prices Constant Factors – While the entire nation has had to deal with stagnant wages, the situation is particularly problematic in Boston. A full quarter of the city’s full-time employees earn less than $35,000 per year, and the median wage for Boston residents, which is only slightly above that at $35,273, has been at the same level for three decades.

Those stagnant wages become a major problem when you pair them with Boston’s rising housing costs. According to the Greater Boston Housing Report Card from last November, the average cost to build residential space in the city rose to $274 per square foot in 2015, or over $438,000 for a 1,600 square foot family-sized unit. The monthly rent to just break even on a unit of this size would be over $3,200. That means a full quarter of Boston’s residents could not afford to pay the rent for that unit, even if their entire income went towards it.

2. Racial, Location Divide on Wages – Even though roughly 10,000 jobs a year have been created in the city since 2010, a majority of those fall in low-paying industries, and most of those jobs use part-time labor, rather than full-time. That trend became prominent nationwide after the 2008 recession, but Boston has not followed the national trend of returning to full-time positions as the economy recovers.

The BRA report also bluntly stated that a majority of Boston’s low-income jobs fall disproportionately on non-white residents, immigrants and non-native English speakers. The city’s average Hispanic worker earns less than half as much as the city’s average non-Hispanic White worker. Additionally, both the African-American and Hispanic jobless rate are significantly higher than the average rate, being 1.72 and 1.38 times higher than average, respectively.

The report also noted that those who commute into the city make 8 percent more than Boston residents working in the city, further harming those in low income sectors.

3. Education a Key Factor – Education has always been a strong factor for job advancement, but in Boston’s current economic climate, it is more important than ever. The report specifically cited the city’s nursing sector: although a majority of positions typically require an associate’s degree, more than 80 percent of Boston’s nurses possess a bachelor’s degree, meaning those with higher education are competing for jobs traditionally available to those with less education.

The demand for education is not receding. By 2022, 41 percent of Boston jobs will require a bachelor’s degree (compared to 27 percent nationally). Only 36 percent will be available to those with a high school degree (compared to 50 percent nationally).

For those with a bachelor’s degree, more than 60 percent earned $50,000 or more annually, well above the national median, according to WBUR; meanwhile, for those without a high school degree, 40 percent earned between $10,001 to $24,999.