Here’s What You Need To Earn To Afford A Home In 50 U.S. Cities

bonandbon via Deposit Photos

The American dream may include home ownership, but unless you make at least $100,000 a year, that dream may be unrealistic if you’re trying to buy a home in 2023.

A graphic created by Visual Capitalist makes it easy to see how much you need to earn each year in order to pay off a 30-year mortgage. The data takes into consideration the median home price in 50 different U.S. cities.

On average, the median home price in the United States is $371,200. In order to pay off a 30-year mortgage of that amount, one would need to earn at least $100,000 a year.

Since $371,200 is the median home price in the United States, that means homes cost less or sometimes much more in certain parts of the country. For example, in San Jose, California, the median home price is $1.6 million!

Here’s a list of how much you would need to earn to afford a home (or actually, to afford a 30-year mortgage) in 50 different U.S. states. This list is arranged from the least expensive home price to the most expensive median home price.

  • Pittsburgh, PA – $50,300
  • Oklahoma City, OK – $62,200
  • Louisville, KY -$62,700
  • Detroit, MI – $62,800
  • St. Louis, MO – $63,300
  • Buffalo, NY – $63,400
  • Cincinnati, OH – $66,300
  • Birmingham, AL – $67,700
  • Memphis, TN – $68,000
  • New Orleans, LA – $68,900
  • Indianapolis, IN – $71,400
  • Columbus, OH – $76,100
  • Kansas City, MO – $76,100
  • Virginia Beach, VA – $79,300
  • Philadelphia, PA – $87,300
  • San Antonio, TX – $88,700
  • Richmond, VA – $88,800
  • Atlanta, GA – $89,200
  • Milwaukee, WI – $89,800
  • Houston, TX – $91,800
  • Chicago, IL – $92,900
  • Nashville, TN – $93,200
  • Baltimore, MD – $93,400
  • Jacksonville, FL – $93,400
  • Charlotte, NC – $93,700
  • Hartford, CT – $93,900
  • Minneapolis, MN – $94,500
  • Tampa, FL – $97,400
  • Las Vegas, NV – $101,300
  • Raleigh, NC – $102,600
  • Phoenix, AZ – $103,100
  • Dallas, TX – $103,500
  • Orlando, FL $104,800
  • Providence, RI – $112,300
  • Salt Lake City, UT – $122,700
  • Sacramento, CA – $125,300
  • Austin, TX – $129,000
  • Riverside, CA – $133,600
  • Portland, OR – $136,100
  • Miami, FL – $137,600
  • Washington, D.C. – $139,900
  • Denver, CO – $150,600
  • New York, NY – $160,200
  • Boston, MA – $165,200
  • Seattle, WA – $170,300
  • Los Angeles, CA – $181,100
  • San Diego, CA – $209,100
  • San Francisco, CA – $282,200
  • San Jose, CA – $373,700

As you can see, there’s a wide range of median incomes needed to buy a home depending on where you live. Keep in mind that the median income in the United States is $75,000, much lower than the median income needed to afford a home. If you don’t make at least $100,000 a year and you want to buy a home, you might consider moving to a city towards the top of this list.

It’s also interesting to note that the median income needed to buy a home just one year ago in 2022 was $75,500. That’s a jump of $24,500 in just one year.

Do you own or rent?