The Median Home Is Only Affordable in Two Major U.S. Cities

Just two major U.S. cities and one state have local median incomes high enough for home buyers to comfortably purchase the typical home.

ST. LOUIS, May 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The local median salary is enough to affordably purchase the typical home in just two of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas: Detroit and Pittsburgh, according to a new report from Clever Real Estate, a St. Louis-based real estate company.

Clever analyzed the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S. and all 50 states to determine where total housing costs exceed 28% of the median household's gross income, a well-known baseline for housing affordability.

Nationally, with a 20% down payment, 6.65% mortgage rate, and average home insurance and property tax costs, homebuyers would need a household income of $123,226 to afford the median-priced U.S. home of $438,000.

However, the median household income is just $77,719 — an alarming difference of $45,507.

The median home would need to cost $276,247, or more than $160,000 less, to be affordable for the typical household.

One of only two affordable metros, Detroit's household income is just $72,574, but homes sell for a median of just $195,000 — less than half the national average ($438,000). Residents earn a median of $12,100 more than needed to afford the typical home.

Similarly, Pittsburgh's median income of $72,532 is around the average, but homes cost just $250,000.

Although Detroit and Pittsburgh are the only truly "affordable" cities, seven cities are less than $15,000 short of the median incomes residents would need to buy a typical home:

1. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ($864 short)
2. Cleveland, Ohio ($1,564 short)
3. Cincinnati, Ohio ($2,492 short)
4. St. Louis, Missouri ($4,071 short)
5. Indianapolis, Indiana ($6,259 short)
6. Louisville, Kentucky ($10,634 short)
7. Buffalo, New York ($12,452 short)

Meanwhile, Iowa is the only truly affordable state, with a household income of $71,433 and a median home price of $239,000. Iowans making the median income earn $997 more than needed to afford the typical home.

The most affordable states are primarily in the Midwest, with Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Missouri rounding out the top five.

Unsurprisingly, the West is home to seven of the ten most unaffordable cities, with four of the five least affordable cities located in California:

1. San Jose, California
2. San Francisco, California
3. Los Angeles, California
4. San Diego, California
5. New York, New York
6. Seattle, Washington
7. Miami, Florida
8. Boston, Massachusetts
9. Riverside, California
10. Denver, Colorado

Read the full report: http://www.listwithclever.com/how-much-house-can-i-afford

About Clever
Clever Real Estate is a technology company that produces educational real estate content reaching over 10 million readers annually, and its nationwide agent matching service has a 5.0-star Trustpilot rating across 3,500+ customer reviews. Since launching in 2017, Clever has reached $12.9 billion in real estate sold, matched 161,000+ customers with realtors, and saved consumers over $190 million on commission fees. Clever's network spans 16,000 agents across all 50 states.

Please contact Alyssa Evans at [email protected] with any questions or to arrange an interview.

CONTACT:                                                                                                                 
Alyssa Evans
Clever Real Estate
[email protected] 
315-690-1518

SOURCE Clever Real Estate