Sure, Los Angeles has been named America's most overpriced city -- but San Diegans have plenty to grimace about.
Forbes, a magazine addicted to ranking cities, based this batch of rankings on earnings potential and living expenses in the 50 largest continental U.S. metro areas. The cities are ranked by average salary for workers with a bachelor's degree or higher, annual unemployment statistics, cost of living and the Housing Opportunity Index.
San Diego is tied with Newark (Newark!?!) for ninth place
Both L.A. and Riverside have double-digit unemployment and housing woes, according to the magazine, as does San Diego.
"The unemployment [in Southern California) is definitely driven by the housing bust," said Al Lee, director of Quantitative Analysis at PayScale. "Prices are collapsing, but if you're looking at buying a house, it's still expensive,"
On the plus side, though, remember that while the rest of the country was freezing back in January, San Diego was sunny and had a few days with temperatures in the 80s.
So, yes, we're overpaying, but at least we can wear shorts year-round.
Forbes: Top 20 America's Most Overpriced Cities:
- No. 1: Los Angeles, Calif.
- No. 2: Chicago, Ill.
- No. 3: Miami, Fla.
- No. 4: New York, N.Y.
- No. 5: Providence, R.I.
- No. 6: Riverside, Calif.
- No. 7: Long Island, N.Y.
- No. 8: Cleveland, Ohio
- No. 9 (tie): Newark, N.J.
- No. 9 (tie): San Diego, Calif.
- No. 11: Philadelphia, Pa.
- No. 12: Portland, Ore.
- No. 13 (tie): Tampa, Fla.
- No. 13 (tie): Memphis, Tenn.
- No. 15: Orlando, Fla.
- No. 16: St. Louis, Mo.
- No. 17: Jacksonville, Fla.
- No. 18: San Francisco, Calif.
- No. 19 (tie): Warren, Mich.
- No. 19 (tie): Boston, Mass.
