While home ownership is more affordable than renting in most of the country, more than two-thirds of counties with populations exceeding 500,000 were cheaper for renters — including in Colorado’s most populous counties.

ATTOM Data Solutions, a property data company, analyzed three-bedroom homes and three-bedroom rentals using pricing data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Todd Teta, the company’s chief product officer, told Westword that in “most areas of the West and other relatively high-priced parts of the country, renting remains more affordable than owning in Colorado mainly because of how far typical home values have raced past what the average worker can afford during the long, eight-year housing boom.”

All of the Denver metro region counties — except for Adams — plus El Paso County were more rent-affordable. The largest concentrations of affordability for home buyers are in the Midwest and southeastern U.S.

ATTOM Data Solutions also found that increases in home prices are outpacing increases in wage growth in 66% of counties, but that wage growth was faster than rental growth in 57% of counties.

Colorado voters could choose to further restrict the supply of housing in November. A ballot initiative approved for signature-gathering would impose a 1% growth limit on residential housing in Front Range counties, which could only be repealed by residents on a county-by-county basis.