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New Study Shows The Salary You Need To Buy A Home In The 50 Largest Metro Areas

New Study Shows The Salary You Need To Buy A Home In The 50 Largest Metro Areas

largest metro areas
A new study shows the salary necessary to afford a home in the largest metro areas across the U.S. Illustration By Autumn Keiko

A study by mortgage data provider HSH.com shows the salary you need to earn to afford a home in the 50 largest U.S. metro areas.

The site uses the National Association of Realtors’ 2019 second-quarter data for median-home prices, combined with national mortgage rate data derived from weekly surveys by Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

Affording a home in the 50 largest metro areas

San Jose in Silicon Valley is one of the most expensive cities to buy a home in, with an income of about $254,836 needed to be able to afford a house.

San Francisco would require a salary of about $198,978, San Diego $131,641 and Los Angeles, the city of dreamers, would require a salary of around $123,156 per year.

Other expensive cities include Boston, New York, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and Denver.

Even with a 1.57 percent decline in median home prices – the mid-level of home prices ranked in a particular area in the study – San Jose remained the most expensive.

Las Vegas posted the highest annual gain in home prices of about 10.61 percent, while Philadelphia posted the lowest increase.

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HSH.com calculated the annual before-tax income required to cover the mortgage’s principal, interest, property tax, and homeowner’s insurance payment.

It also used industry-standard mortgage-to-debt earnings ratios and a 20 percent down payment subtracted from the median home price data, Forbes reported.