A ski town has spoken out about struggling to hire an employee for a whopping $167,000 salary.
If you live in the UK and were offered a $167,000 salary, well, let's just say most of us would be handing in our notice within the next five minutes.
Even in the US, where the average salary is $53,428 per year, to be offered the chance to run away to the fresh air and fun of a town with an amazing ski resort and be paid to do it? There wouldn't be too much to weigh up there either.
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However, for one ski town in Colorado, despite offering double the average salary, it's struggling to find the right candidate for a much-needed role.
Steamboat Springs is located in the mountains of Colorado and features Steamboat Ski Resort - in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests - which hopes to be 'one of the premier ski destinations in the world for decades to come'.
Surrounded by glorious snow and luscious trees, the resort attracts the likes of training Olympic athletes and the area around it is just as magical too.
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However, despite multiple jobs on offer in the town, the area has become so unaffordable since the coronavirus pandemic, City Manager Gary Suiter says the town is struggling to fill a $167,000 job role for a head of human resources (HR) and risk management - with two job candidates actually turning down the role because the salary wouldn't cover them finding somewhere to live.
Loryn Duke, director of communications for the Steamboat ski resort, tells NBC News the town used to save houses for employees from the resort or other workplaces such as hospitals and the hotels were reserved for the guests, however 'now houses are for guests and hotels are for employee housing'.
Local realtor Jon Wade told NBC since 2020 all real estate sales have gone up by 64 percent, seeing properties even like condos go up to $1.1 million, meaning if you're on a $200,000 salary or less, you'd likely struggle to be able to afford to get on the property ladder in the area.
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Instead, the ultra wealthy have swooped in, with properties picked up by people buying second homes or short-term rental investors and remote workers flocking in adding to the competition to find any sort of good deal too.
Duke continues: "We have a lot of great staff who are early in their careers or have young families, but they just aren’t able to put down those roots."
Steamboat real estate agent Christy Belton adds: "The people who are coming here are paying a million dollars for an entry-level house — a totally entry-level, 50-year-old house.
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"We are seeing across all segments of the market even high-paid professionals, they’re turning down jobs because they spend a little time looking at housing costs and they can’t do it."
Topics: Money, Travel, World News
Poppy Bilderbeck