What You Need to Earn to Afford a Home in These 20 Cities
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If you have plans to buy a home in the near future, now seems to be a good time. Home prices and mortgage rates were lower in the fourth quarter of 2015, so owing a home in many major U.S. cities is currently more affordable.
The mortgage site HSH.com keeps track of housing statistics and trends, and it recently updated its list to reflect changes in the median home prices from the National Association of Realtors. The site also estimated what it'd take to afford a home in each city considering the costs of interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, property taxes and insurance.
Here's what you need to earn annually to afford a home in these 20 cities.
1. New York
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Home price: $384,600
Annual salary: $86,770
2. Los Angeles
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Home price: $481,900
Annual salary: $95,040
3. Chicago
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Home price: $209,800
Annual salary: $57,982
4. Houston
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Home price: $209,200
Annual salary: $52,163
5. Pittsburgh
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Home price: $128,000
Annual salary: $31,134
6. Phoenix
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Home price: $221,000
Annual salary: $43,937
7. San Antonio
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Home price: $192,100
Annual salary: $46,974
8. San Diego
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Home price: $546,800
Annual salary: $103,164
9. Dallas
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Home price: $206,200
Annual salary: $51,806
10. San Francisco
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Home price: $781,600
Annual salary: $147,996
11. Boston
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Home price: $393,600
Annual salary: $83,151
12. Denver
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Home price: $353,500
Annual salary: $68,436
13. Seattle
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Home price: $385,300
Annual salary: $78,424
14. Portland
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Home price: $318,800
Annual salary: $65,917
15. Miami
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Home price: $286,000
Annual salary: $63,048
16. Atlanta
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Home price: $169,200
Annual salary: $37,551
17. St. Louis
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Home price: $143,700
Annual salary: $34,777
18. Cleveland
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Home price: $121,800
Annual salary: $32,523
19. Detroit
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Home price: $148,667
Annual salary: $36,914
20. Sacramento
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Home price: $294,100
Annual salary: $62,143
Remember, these numbers change on a quarterly basis — and the National Association of Realtors doesn't expect these mortgage and home price rates to remain this low — so there's no way to tell if your annual income will still make the cut when the next round of quarterly figures are released.
The housing affordability crisis
Unfortunately, affording a home in a major metropolitan city is increasingly difficult in the U.S., regardless of the lower median home prices. For people who work full-time at minimum wage, it's not even possible to afford a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent in any state.
A recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimated that you'd have to make $15.50 at full-time to afford a one-bedroom and $19.35 for a two-bedroom unit. And given the fact that the median annual income for Millennials in the U.S. ranges from a low of $18,000 to a high of $43,000, the options for young people are especially limited.
