It now costs more than $106,000 for the average U.S. homebuyer to comfortably afford a home, according to a recently released study - up 80% from less than five years ago.
But while the typical monthly mortgage payment has nearly doubled since Jan. 2020 to $2,188, wages have not kept pace, according to Zillow.
In 2020, it cost a household about $59,000 to comfortably afford - that is, without spending more than 30% of its income on a 10% mortgage - monthly payments, the study found. The median U.S. household income at the time was about $66,000, meaning that a majority of American households could afford to own a home.
But as home costs have surged, it now costs about $106,500 to comfortably afford a home, well above the estimated household income of $81,000, according to Zillow.
The real estate site looked at metro areas across the U.S. to determine which required the highest and lowest incomes to comfortably afford a home.
On the high end, seven markets broke the $200,000 mark.
They include four in California: San Jose ($454,296), San Francisco ($339,864), Los Angeles ($279,250) and San Diego ($273,613).
The other three were Seattle ($213,984), the New York City metro area ($213,615) and Boston ($205,253).
And in Florida, four metro markets cleared the $100,000 mark, local outlet NBC6 reported, citing Florida-centric Zillow data.
They are: Miami ($151,163), Orlando ($121,418), Tampa ($116,329) and Jacksonville ($109,271).
On the low end, five metro areas came in under the $75,000 line: Pittsburgh ($58,232), Memphis ($69,976), Cleveland ($70,810), New Orleans ($74,048) and Birmingham ($74,338).
As prices outpace pay, homebuyers have increasingly turned to co-buying with friends or relatives, considering long-distance moves to less expensive markets, and prioritizing the ability to rent out part of their home for extra cash, according to Zillow.
