How Stressed is KC's Housing Market?

Relatively, not very. Of course, things still aren't exactly rosy, but in this recent analysis by the Wall Street Journal, out of the 49 most populous U.S. metro areas, only three had lower "housing-stress indicators" than Kansas City. Factors considered included percentage of income spent on housing, percentage of population without health insurance, and percentage of population not working. The Miami area was rated as the most stressed, with three California metros close behind. Perhaps this is yet another indicator that much of so-called fly-over country is actually, in the words of urban development scholar/commentator and recent LWREC speaker Joel Kotkin, a "zone of sanity."