I love coffee! It is safe to say that I am a coffee addict… So when I find fun, interesting information about my favorite caffeinated drink I know that I need to share it for all of my other coffee lovers out there! Especially if it is coffee and real estate related.
I came across an interesting WalletHub article earlier this week titled “2018’s Best Small Cities in America.” I recognized quite a few cities on the list; like Carmel, IN (the larger city next to our rental property) and Littleton, CO (only 30 min away from us).
WalletHub gave each city a certain amount of points based on 40 metrics. The 40 metrics are split into five categories: Affordability, Economic Health, Education & Health, Quality of Life, and Safety.
The category I found the most fascinating was the Quality of Life category. They looked at some fun metrics like the Average Commute Time, Average Weekly Work Hours, Bars per Capita, and Museums per Capita to name a few. The one that caught my eye was the metric of Coffee Shops per Capita!
Most Coffee Shops Per Capita
It turns out that there is a 5-way tie for which small city has the most coffee shops per capita. Those cities are Sarasota, FL; Santa Monica, CA; Bellingham, WA; Santa Cruz, CA; Puyallup, WA; and Fort Myers, FL.
After finding this fun fact, I wanted to know which city (not small city) has the most coffee per capita as well, so I did some more digging.
WalletHub posted another article back in May 2018 on the best cities to live in for staycations (vacations in your hometown). In this article, they looked up the most Coffee & Tea Shops per Capita, and it turns out this one is also a 5-way tie! The cities are New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; and Las Vegas, NV.
I always love a place that has good coffee options! Clearly, coffee shops have a positive effect on the quality of life in a city and make a place more enjoyable to visit if a personal finance site like WalletHub adds that metric to a lot of its studies. So coffee and real estate go together!
The Starbucks Effect
It actually reminded me of a phenomenon called the “Starbucks Effect” coined by Zillow’s CEO, Spence Rascoff and Chief Economist, Stan Humphries, in their book, Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate. Through their real estate database, Zillow found a correlation between the rising property values and the close proximity of a Starbucks to that property.
Their data showed that from 1994 to 2014 homes within a quarter-mile of a Starbucks increased in value by 96 percent, on average, compared with 65 percent average for all U.S. homes. And According to Zillow, the top 5 cities that Starbucks had the biggest effect on in that time frame were Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, and Baltimore.
Now, I’m not sure if Starbucks was the key factor in the rising home values – I do think that a coffee giant like Starbucks would have very strong supporting data for why they decide to place their shops where they do.
In fact, Forbes explained in one of their articles that in 2007 Starbucks started using a large data mapping company to help fine tune the where and the why of their store placements. I’m sure they pull a lot of data that shows that location is growing and will support the kind of sales they are looking to make. So, I do think that a new Starbucks coming to a certain area is a good sign of growth and even gentrification.
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Coffee and Real Estate
Personally, as a coffee lover, having coffee houses nearby is a huge “perk!” In fact, while we were looking for a place to purchase our rental property I did take into account coffee shops within each city.
I simply Googled coffee shops when I was looking at specific towns and even checked out their reviews and websites! However, I am a local coffee shop supporter, so it excites me to find trendy locally-owned coffee houses!
So not only does coffee help wake us up in the morning, but it can also help give your property value and quality of life a “jolt” as well!
