As home prices in Columbia and the value of assets increase, so too does the population of the city continues to grow as well. This presents both opportunity and challenges for Columbia and its residents.

"By the year 2030, we're going to need about 37,000 housing units," said Lisa Buchanan, vice president of workforce development for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce . "We have a huge growth, that we actually need to have."

Buchanan explained that the city has a surplus of available jobs, which will require attracting talent from outside of the city to fill.

"Right now, there's 6,000 open jobs out there and there's 3,000 people who (can) actually be placed in those jobs," Buchanan said, "so we have to keep attracting a larger population."

Lily White Boyd, the chamber's vice president of external affairs, said despite high prices, Columbia has non-monetary attributes still attracting people to the city to fill these jobs.

"It certainly seems like once they live in Columbia, once they feel the culture of Columbia and feel like this is home," White Boyd said, "we're able to keep people here in Columbia, which is what adds to that growth."

Columbia has seen a revitalization of its retail centers, such as the Shopppes and Stadium, which added a HomeGoods in February and has a Trader Joe's on the way.

Everyday items sold at retail and grocery stores are still impacted by the effects of inflation, however, which has slowed from highs of over 9% in 2022, but still remains above pre-Pandemic rates.

MU economist Joseph Haslag explains people consider a wide array of factors when they determine what's affordable for them, and ultimately, people make the best choice for themselves.

"I kind of have an idea of what it costs for a house and groceries and all of those things that are there," Haslag said. "I'm also taking into account what my tax burden would be, associated with these things."

"If (people) made very simple decisions, I could teach economics in a semester and we'd all be done," Haslag said. "What's challenging is how complicated our people are, how extraordinarily clever they are in making those decisions and how complicated the interactions are of a bunch of people making decisions simultaneously."

Rebecca Buchholz, who works as a connections specialist at Love Columbia , describes how hard it can be for some people to build up their financial base.

For people in monetarily unstable situations, she details how one financial blow can have a ripple-effect, causing long-term damage.

"Most of our clients are on marketplace insurance, because that's the economy right now," Buchholz said. "They now have to absorb that, and absorb paying those bills that are not in their budget, so that then causes their credit score to drop."

"Not only are they not going to be able to pay rent, so their house is in jeopardy, their credit score (also) drops," Buchholz continued. "If they have to leave that housing situation and re-rent, their credit score has now become effectively too low to be rentable ."

There's a paradox going on here. Just this catch-22," Buchholz added. "The smallest little hiccup, and the smallest little life bump, will really cause a lot to be jeopardized for our clients."

Love Columbia has resources for financial coaching , rent assistance , and home ownership assistance . Additionally, the City of Columbia offers resources and guidance through a homeownership assistance program .