To calculate affordability, consumer-loan researcher HSH.com used the National Association of Realtors’ second-quarter data for median home prices and HSH.com’s second-quarter average interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages. Researchers calculated how much of a homeowner’s salary it would take to afford the base cost of owning a home.
Phoenix ranked in the top third of housing affordability, reports Catherine Reagor for The Arizona Republic.
Here are the 27 metropolitan areas, ranked by the salary needed in those areas to afford a median-priced home. Pittsburgh is the most affordable; San Francisco, the least.
Pittsburgh – $33,128.20
Cleveland – $33,881.55
Cincinnati – $35,864.16
St. Louis – $36,020.47
Detroit – $36,236.03
Tampa – $37,913.32
Atlanta – $38,005.28
Phoenix – $41,250.52
Orlando – $43,163.95
San Antonio – $46,304.97
Minneapolis – $49,255.87
Dallas – $50,102.98
Houston – $51,782.56
Philadelphia – $54,323.02
Baltimore – $57,668.41
Chicago – $59,315.49
Sacramento – $59,778.52
Miami – $60,774.40
Portland – $61,706.20
Denver – $63,664.45
Seattle – $74,674.89
Boston – $84,572.32
Washington – $84,999.14
Los Angeles – $86,800.40
New York City – 89.939.45
San Diego – $100,091.74
San Francisco – $150,511.88
