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Single women can't afford rent in Fort Worth and Arlington, but men can

The Dallas-Fort Worth region is one of the more unfair real estate markets in the country when it comes to single women who have a median income.

<p>Fort Worth</p>

The Dallas-Fort Worth region is one of the more unfair real estate markets in the country when it comes to single women who have a median income.

Fort Worth, in particular, stands out as one of the most unfair, according to a study from Rent Cafe.

"Fort Worth and Memphis share the prize for most unfair market, where the median male salary is enough to buy as well as to rent a home, while women cannot afford either on their own without placing a considerable burden on their incomes," the study said.

Representatives from the Fort Worth Mayor's office did not provide comment by press time.

The study looked at two main criteria — median income for single men and women and the cost of rent. If rent exceeded the old '30 percent' rule for income, it was deemed unaffordable. Because men generally make more than women, women find themselves priced out of markets more than their male counterparts.

Below is a breakdown for the three North Texas cities included in the study. A green bar indicates rent is affordable, while a red bar means rent is unaffordable.

Dallas is unaffordable if you're a single man or woman on a median income. However, Fort Worth and Arlington are both affordable if you're a man, but not a woman.

When looking at buying a home, which usually equates to a smaller monthly mortgage payment compared to rent, Dallas and Arlington single men and women can afford the payments. Fort Worth men can, but not women.

Fort Worth women make 70.8 cents on the dollar compared to men. That's lower than Dallas' and Arlington's figures of 74.1 cents and 75.7 cents, respectively. All three North Texas cities are well below the national average of 79 cents.

That could be why single DFW women account for only 8.1 percent of young homebuyers (age 24-35), compared to 13.4 percent of single DFW men, according to Zillow.

That appears to be bucking a national trend. About 17 percent of U.S. homebuyers last year were single women, according to an October report from the National Association of Realtors. That's more than double their single male counterparts, who accounted for 7 percent of home purchases.

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