Is Your Job on This Lucky List?

10 Most Affordable Cities for the Fastest-Growing Careers: 

When it comes to winning the real-world Game of Life, there are a pair of treasured action cards everyone is eager to play. 

One is 'Get a great new career'; the other is 'Buy the home of your dreams.' For most of us, they're a critical one-two combo. Homeownership is one of the reasons we shell out thousands for a good education, spend endless hours studying for certification tests, and smile through excruciating networking events.

But there can be a big disconnect. A red-hot economy is churning out jobs left and right, but the most in-demand gigs aren't necessarily in the places where those professionals can afford to live.

Hoping to helm the next zillion-dollar tech startup? Silicon Valley and Seattle reign supreme, but you may still need a hefty trust fund to buy a home. Attracted to the burgeoning solar power biz?

You'll have your pick of jobs in Boston or Honolulu, but good luck affording your own digs on a median salary of $39,200.

We picked the metros with the best prospects for 10 of the nation's fastest-growing professions—many of which are in green energy, health care, and technology—that are also affordable enough to make home ownership an achievable dream for the folks who ply these trades.

To come up with our rankings, we picked professions expected to see the most growth in new jobs through 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (We knocked off those that paid below $35,000 or were duplicative.)

We figured out where to find the highest concentrations of these jobs within the 200 largest metros. Then we looked at how much moola people in these careers pulled in nationally to see where they're most likely to be able to afford a home—assuming a 20% down payment and 30-year mortgage. We limited our list to just two metros per state to ensure some geographic diversity.

'Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,' 

Genetic counselors

Top metro: Salt Lake City, UT
Metro's median home list price: $394,000
Profession's national median salary: $74,100

Profession's projected growth rate: 29%

As a genetic counselor at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Whitney Espinel reviews patients' family history, and then deploys genetic tests. If the patient's results show increased odds of cancer or other diseases, Espinel can recommend future screenings, exams, or other preventive measures. 

An explosion in genetic technology has created demand in metros such as Salt Lake City for these type of jobs. “We look at your family history looking for red flags,” Espinel says, 'such as breast cancer at a really young age.'

Generally, genetic counselors will have completed a master's degree. Salt Lake City employs these professionals at its hospitals, and also at nearby commercial employers such as Ancestry.com.

Since the profession is relatively young, many of the counselors in Salt Lake City are in their 20s and 30s, and live in condos in downtown Salt Lake City—many of them new units. (The median price for condos and townhomes is more reasonable: just over $271,000, according to data.)

You got the skills. Now let's find you a new home to put them to use.  If you’re interested on a wealth of information to help you get started visit Precision Realty & Assoc. LLC or if you prefer a more personal touch, reach out to a us, CALL 801-809-9866 today. #RealEstateForSale #Homeownership

Source: Realtor.com