Mapped: The Salary Needed to Buy a Home in 50 U.S. Cities

Dorothy Neufeld
2025-06-04 08:11:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

The Salary Needed to Buy a Home in 50 U.S. Cities in 2025

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

Americans need to make $108,486 in income to afford a median-priced home in 2025.
Buying a home in San Jose requires an eye-watering $501,760 salary, where the median price is over $2 million—up from $1.8 million in May 2024.
By contrast, a salary of $63,611 is needed to afford a home in Cleveland, the lowest across 50 cities analyzed by Home Sweet Home.

Since 2017, the salary needed to buy a home in America has more than doubled.

Fueled by rising unaffordability and high mortgage rates, home buyers need to shell out $2,500 on average for monthly payments. Meanwhile, this soars past $5,000 in coastal cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

This graphic shows the salary you need to afford a home in 50 U.S. cities, based on data from Home Sweet Home.

What is the Salary Needed to Buy a Home in 2025?

Here is the income it takes to afford a median-priced home in 2025 across major cities:

Note: These calculations determine the salary needed to afford the principal, interest, taxes, and insurance payments on a median-priced home in the corresponding metro area as of Q1 2025. Figures reflect homes with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage of 6.83% and a 20% down payment.

Metro Area	Salary Needed	Median Home Price	Monthly Payment
San Jose	$501,760	$2,020,000	$11,708
San Francisco	$338,427	$1,320,000	$7,897
San Diego	$257,190	$1,036,500	$6,001
Los Angeles	$218,483	$862,600	$5,098
New York City	$202,150	$725,300	$4,717
Seattle	$198,233	$772,900	$4,625
Boston	$194,593	$734,000	$4,541
Washington, D.C.	$166,814	$630,900	$3,892
Miami	$165,818	$643,900	$3,869
Denver	$161,935	$647,800	$3,778
Riverside/San Bernardino	$155,109	$609,200	$3,619
Portland	$151,963	$591,200	$3,546
Sacramento	$144,791	$550,000	$3,378
Salt Lake City	$138,012	$556,500	$3,220
Austin	$136,845	$465,100	$3,193
Providence	$135,721	$492,700	$3,167
Phoenix	$119,546	$487,900	$2,789
Las Vegas	$119,242	$486,400	$2,782
Orlando	$117,731	$445,000	$2,747
Hartford	$113,491	$378,300	$2,648
Raleigh	$113,466	$443,900	$2,648
Dallas	$113,069	$377,900	$2,638
Richmond	$112,951	$446,300	$2,636
Chicago	$110,038	$371,500	$2,568
National	$108,486	$402,300	$2,531
Baltimore	$106,969	$393,000	$2,496
Tampa	$106,903	$400,000	$2,494
Minneapolis	$106,442	$388,100	$2,484
Nashville	$105,831	$417,600	$2,469
Milwaukee	$105,477	$388,100	$2,461
Philadelphia	$105,118	$363,000	$2,453
Jacksonville	$104,718	$390,000	$2,443
Charlotte	$104,324	$411,200	$2,434
Houston	$100,142	$337,400	$2,337
Atlanta	$98,232	$369,400	$2,292
Virginia Beach	$92,269	$350,200	$2,153
San Antonio	$90,393	$300,000	$2,109
Columbus	$89,131	$321,800	$2,080
Kansas City	$88,913	$328,700	$2,075
Indianapolis	$81,918	$316,200	$1,911
Birmingham	$80,084	$312,800	$1,869
Cincinnati	$79,540	$293,900	$1,856
New Orleans	$78,572	$291,000	$1,833
Buffalo	$76,156	$245,900	$1,777
Louisville	$73,844	$278,100	$1,723
St Louis	$73,581	$262,100	$1,717
Memphis	$73,302	$276,100	$1,710
Oklahoma City	$73,052	$258,800	$1,705
Detroit	$72,296	$254,200	$1,687
Pittsburgh	$64,071	$225,400	$1,495
Cleveland	$63,611	$213,200	$1,484

Known for its competitive housing market, San Jose ranks at the top, where buyers need to earn $501,760 to buy a home.

Driven by limited supply and high demand from tech workers, a median-priced home is over $2 million. Notably, in April 2025, 71% of listings sold above their asking price. Sitting in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose is home to more than 6,600 tech companies.

Similarly, the AI boom is driving overbidding and sales volumes in San Francisco. In the first quarter of 2024, the median home price stood at $1.3 million, requiring a salary of $338,427 to afford a home—more than three times the national average.

Meanwhile, Miami falls in ninth place as home prices have surged given migration inflows spurred by the pandemic. Today, buying a home in Miami requires a salary of $165,818. For perspective, this jumped from about $70,000 since Q1 2017.

By contrast, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Detroit offer the greatest affordability, where homes cost at least a third less than the national average and require under $73,000 in income to purchase.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic from an affordability perspective, check out this graphic on the most affordable cities to buy a home.

Source Link

Keep your files stored safely and securely with the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD. With over 69,505 ratings and an impressive 4.6 out of 5 stars, this product has been purchased over 8K+ times in the past month. At only $129.99, this Amazon’s Choice product is a must-have for secure file storage.

Help keep private content private with the included password protection featuring 256-bit AES hardware encryption. Order now for just $129.99 on Amazon!

Start your free Amazon Prime trial
today and unlock unlimited streaming and more!

Help Power Techcratic’s Future – Scan To Support

If Techcratic’s content and insights have helped you, consider giving back by supporting the platform with crypto. Every contribution makes a difference, whether it’s for high-quality content, server maintenance, or future updates. Techcratic is constantly evolving, and your support helps drive that progress.

As a solo operator who wears all the hats, creating content, managing the tech, and running the site, your support allows me to stay focused on delivering valuable resources. Your support keeps everything running smoothly and enables me to continue creating the content you love. I’m deeply grateful for your support, it truly means the world to me! Thank you!

BITCOIN

Bitcoin Logo