How Much You Need To Earn To Afford A Home In Metro Boston

With homes prices in the Boston area high and continuing to rise, it's little wonder that the annual salary needed to afford a typical home in the region is nearly $107,000 -- the nation's fifth-highest figure.

That's according to a new report by the mortgage resource website HSH.com, which used the latest available information on home prices, local property taxes and homeowner’s insurance costs to calculate the income needed to qualify for a median-priced home.

According to the study, which used home-price data from the fourth quarter of 2018, the annual salary needed to buy a home in the Boston metro area is $106,790.

That's with a 20 percent down payment on a median $460,000 home. If the down payment were only 10 percent, the salary needed to afford it would be nearly $123,000.

San Jose was the least affordable metropolitan area on the list, and Pittsburgh was the most affordable metropolitan area. The difference in salary required between the two areas to afford a home was a whopping $217,000, the study found.

According to the study, median home prices in the fourth quarter of 2018 were lower compared to the third quarter of 2018, but in many cases -- including Boston -- year-over-year prices were higher.

San Jose was also the only metropolitan area to see a year-over-year decline in median home prices. The median home prices in all 49 other metro areas ranked in the study stayed the same or saw an increase.

The 10 most expensive metros for buying a home are:

1. San Jose (Salary needed: $254,835.73)
2. San Francisco (Salary needed: $198,978.01)
3. San Diego (Salary needed: $131,640.79)
4. Los Angeles (Salary needed: $123,156.01)
5. Boston (Salary needed: $106,789.93)
6. New York City (Salary needed: $105,684.33)
7. Seattle (Salary needed: $105,367.89)
8. Washington D.C. (Salary needed: $94,408.70)
9. Denver (Salary needed: $91,672.45)
10. Portland (Salary needed: $85,173.08)

The 10 least expensive metros for buying a home are:

1. Pittsburgh (Salary needed: $37,659.86)
2. Cleveland (Salary needed: $40,437.72)
3. Oklahoma City (Salary needed: $41,335.41)
4. Memphis (Salary needed: $41,400.93)
5. Indianapolis (Salary needed: $42,288.92)
6. Louisville (Salary needed: $42,323.15)
7. Cincinnati (Salary needed: $43,429.97)
8. St Louis (Salary needed: $44,215.56)
9. Birmingham (Salary needed: $44,593.35)
10. Buffalo (Salary needed: $45,698.05)

You can read the full study from HSH.com here.