Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Thanks to rising home prices and stagnant pay, many cities have a high home price-to-income ratio, according to real-estate platform Clever.
- Sixteen cities across the Midwest, northeast and southeast offer livable salaries and affordable homes, including St. Louis, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
When it comes to buying a house, not all cities are equal.
In the past few decades, home prices have been climbing while wages have been stagnant. The rule of thumb was once to buy a house no more than 2.6 times your yearly household income, according to CityLab. Today, that number seems more like an aspiration than a rule, especially in pricier regions like the west coast.
But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still affordable options out there. Real-estate platform Clever looked at the home price-to-income ratio of several cities with median income and median home value information compiled by Zillow. The data shows that few have been able to maintain a ratio below 2.6.
Below, we’ve listed the 16 most affordable cities in the US according to Zillow’s data, as well as the median household income in each city from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey and the median home price from Zillow.
16. St. Louis, Missouri
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Median household income: $41,441
Median home price: $116,400
15. Greensboro, North Carolina
Sean Pavone/Shutterstock
Median household income: $47,043
Median home price: $143,500
14. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Jon Bilous/Shutterstock
Median household income: $35,300
Median home price: $51,400
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- 3 types of loans that can help you buy a house when you can’t afford a full down payment
- 7 things I wish I knew before buying a house
- Some people insist renting is the way to go, but buying a home was the smartest thing I ever did for my money
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Liz Knueven)