{"id":13236,"date":"2024-11-05T19:50:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T19:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=13236"},"modified":"2024-11-05T19:50:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T19:50:49","slug":"can-these-popular-tv-characters-afford-their-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=13236","title":{"rendered":"Can These Popular TV Characters Afford Their Homes?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Your favorite sitcom characters may be giving you unrealistic living expectations.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sitcoms make us laugh with outlandish yet realistic and relatable stories. What\u2019s unrealistic, though, is how some of these characters can afford incredibly spacious living quarters\u2014especially with many of them living in expensive cities and working jobs with low salary ranges. We used real-life data to compare how much fictional sitcom homes would cost today with how much the tenants made per month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Successful sitcoms often spend years on the air, with many characters changing careers through time. To keep things consistent, we considered characters\u2019 income in a show\u2019s first season unless otherwise noted. We also used the most updated housing and salary data based on recent averages.<\/p>\n

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Main Findings<\/p>\n

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<\/svg><\/span>\u201cFull House\u201d is the show with the most unrealistic living situation.<\/strong> We estimate that today their monthly housing costs would make up a whopping 177% of the character\u2019s estimated household income. The estimated monthly mortgage payment is roughly $28,000, and their pre-tax pay stands at less than $15,900.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Across the five shows analyzed, the characters would not be housing cost burdened in only one: \u201cThat \u201870s Show.\u201d<\/strong> In all four other shows, housing costs make up more than 30% of income, which is the threshold for being considered \u201chousing cost burdened,\u201d according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Schmidt carries the team in \u201cNew Girl.\u201d <\/strong>\u201cNew Girl\u201d ranks as the second-most realistic show when it comes to housing affordability, with housing costs making up about 36% of income. However, if the rent was split evenly between the four friends, $2,350 a month would be way out of budget for Nick and Jess and a bit of a stretch for Winston, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n