My wife has a friend who moved to Colorado for a job that fell through and is now struggling to find a job and keep a roof over her head. She’s paying $1,250 a month for a one bedroom apartment in Loveland, Colo. That’s actually the median amount people there are paying to live in that very popular state. More people moving in means fewer vacancies and that means higher rents.

She would have been better off in Wyoming where we’re in a much better situation than Colorado, according to the map of cost burdened renters (paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent) at ApartmentList.com. They say millennials are flocking to Seattle, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Denver, but the highest rents will be in the sunshine states of Florida, Hawaii and California. The Midwest and Mountain West offer the best in rents with Wyoming doing very well, but still behind both North and South Dakota.

Another problem is that rents are going up faster than people’s incomes. With the fall of oil prices, Wyoming and the Dakotas will feel the unemployment pinch and there will be more vacancies. My wife and I have some oil industry worker neighbors who moved in across the street last year. They have a bunch of huge trucks, a giant RV, dune buggy, motorcycles and lots of other toys. Those must be from the industry “Boom” cycle, and now they are experiencing the “Bust” cycle. I have seen them moving a lot of loads from their house and suspect that they will have some 'deals' up for sale soon.

I don’t know them, but I wish them well. A quick check at Apartments.com showed a limited number of rentals starting at about $700 a month. Casper had more available apartments and a wider range of costs per month.

My wife and I are paying a mortgage and so are most of the people we know. But we also know that rentals are preferable for a lot of people. Hopefully, you have a good balance of income to monthly nut.

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