The salary you need to buy a home in 27 U.S. cities

[mesquite]

On a national scale, a buyer who puts 20 percent down would need to earn a salary of $48,604 to afford the median-priced home in America. But that total varies a lot from city to city. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis and Cincinnati rank as the most affordable metros in which to buy a new home – HSH.com estimates that you can buy the median home while making less than $34,000 – while New York, Los Angeles and San Diego are at the high end, requiring salaries of nearly $90,000 or more. But the most expensive city by far is San Francisco, where the site estimates you would need to make $142,448 to buy the median home in the area.

www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/08/map-the-salary-you-need-to-buy-a-home-in-27-u-s-cities/?hpid=z4

For most people the 20% down is more unreachable than the yearly salary. Young people and parents should seriously consider military service and the 0% down VA loan it brings.