If your rent is too high, you may be too close to a Trader Joe's

If your rent is too damn high, you might want to look for a new apartment far, far away from Trader Joe’s.

This month, real-estate analytics firm RealtyTrac released a study showing that homes near Trader Joe’s supermarkets tend to have higher values (and property taxes) than those near Whole Foods. Since renting has become increasingly popular – especially among young Americans – Fusion asked RealtyTrac about the difference in rents.

It turns out that, across 14 U.S. states, living near a Trader Joe’s means your rent is 12% higher, on average, than living near a Whole Foods. It’s $1,900 for a three bedroom near Trader Joe’s, vs. $1,700 as a Whole Foods neighbor. (Apartments with fewer bedrooms would likely be cheaper; RealtyTrac uses three-bedroom apartments as a metric in its analyses.)

Of course there are many factors that drive up housing costs – few, if any, have to do with the local grocery store. If anything, high-end supermarkets are a symptom of a housing boom rather than a cause. The study had a heavy dose of silliness, but was interesting to shoppers who have loyalty to one store or another.

“Trader Joe’s, whether intentionally or not, [ends up being in] more affluent, high priced neighborhoods,” RealtyTrac’s Daren Blomquist said. “Both are obviously targeting more affluent higher priced neighborhoods.”

In the initial home-price study, Blomquist found that the more significant difference in home values and rental prices was between homes near a high-end supermarket vs. supermarkets like Aldi’s, which cater to shoppers with tighter wallets.

Homes near Trader Joe’s saw an average appreciation of 40 percent from the most recent purchase; Whole Foods was 34 percent; Aldi’s 16 percent.

So, which supermarket would you prefer to live by? Take the poll below and let us know why in the comments.