You'll need to make over $200,000 annually to afford a home in some California cities, a recent National Association of Realtors report reveals.
In the San Jose area, a household would have to earn $482,835 to qualify for a median-priced single-family home — the highest of all 221 U.S. metro markets surveyed — according to NAR's quarterly report.
The study determined the qualifying income needed to buy a home in each metro market based on a 20% down payment and a 7.12% interest rate. The monthly principal and interest payment are limited to 25% of a household's income.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, cities that require the highest income are large urban coastal hubs where homes tend to be more expensive. In California, homes are both desirable and scarce, which is why the state has some of the highest home prices in the U.S.
Here are the 11 metro areas where households need to earn over $200,000 to afford a median-priced home.
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California: $482,835
- Anaheim-Santa Ana-Irvine, California: $340,595
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California: $339,290
- Honolulu, Hawaii: $277,147
- San Diego-Carlsbad, California: $255,381
- Salinas, California: $246,716
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, California: $240,504
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, California: $234,266
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, California: $232,257
- Boulder, Colorado: $223,879
- Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, Florida: $200,964
In contrast to the most expensive areas, homes are far more affordable in Decatur, Illinois, which ranked last of all 221 U.S. metro areas in the study. To own a home in that city, buyers only need a household income of $33,459.
Similarly, homes in smaller rust belt and rural cities are much cheaper compared with some cities in California. The qualifying income for a home in Charleston, West Virginia; Erie, Pennsylvania and Youngstown, Ohio is less than $50,000.
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