Money

Map Shows How Much You Need to Make to Buy a House in These Major Cities

August 29th 2016

Looking to buy a house in a major city in the United States? Reports suggest you better start saving...yesterday.

HSH.com, a publisher of mortgage and consumer loan information, recently published an updated map of 27 metro areas showing how much you'd need to earn to comfortably reside in each area.

The results show that in many of America's largest cities, residents don't earn enough to own a home.

HSH determined these salaries based on a 20 percent down payment and a 28 percent front-end debt ratio, which is considered a reasonable percentage of your income to invest in a home.

Here's How Much You Need

Let's take a closer look at some of these findings.

The Highest

Predictably, San Francisco, California is the most expensive area to buy a house. You would need a salary of $161,947.60, with a monthly payment of $3,778.78 (assuming the down payment is 20 percent). The median price of houses in San Francisco is $885,600.

The second and third most expensive metro areas in the nation are also located in California, with San Diego and Los Angeles requiring a $109,440.97 and $92,091.89 annual salary, respectively.

The Cost of Housing is Too High

In 2014, the average household income for a family in San Francisco was a reported $83,222, which, as you can see, is a far cry from what HSH suggests is the needed salary to purchase a home in that area.

As The Huffington Post points out, via SF Gate, almost 90 percent of San Francisco residents cannot afford to purchase a median-priced home. But rent is also high, leaving many people feeling their only option is to get creative, like live in a box in someone's living room or to camp in their truck in their office parking lot.

Of the other cities in the top three, San Diego and Los Angeles, the median household incomes are $63,400 and $55,909 respectively, well below the required annual salary to comfortably afford a home. And like San Francisco, the rent in these cities isn't encouraging, either. "... each person in a two-earner family in L.A. would have to make $24.50 an hour, 40 hours a week, in order to afford the rent on a median home in this market," L.A. Weekly reports.

But there are still some affordable options among America's major cities.

The most affordable home can be purchased in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, provided you're earning a salary of $32,390.09. That would make monthly payments $755.77. Though salaries are varied no matter where you live, Pittsburgh's median income rose to $50,489 in 2013, which makes buying a house in Pittsburgh an affordable option.

The second lowest is Cleveland, Ohio with a monthly payment of $803.46 and a needed annual salary of $34,433.95. The median income reported for Cleveland in 2014 was reported at $49,889.

Just above Cleveland is Cincinnati, Ohio where you'd need a salary of $37,179.18 and where payments are $867.51. The median income in Cincinnati is $55,729, recorded in 2014.

[h/t The Huffington Post]

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