The Average American Worker Cannot Afford to Buy a Home in 70 Percent of the Country
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Despite average decreases across the housing market and increases in wages, the average American worker cannot afford to buy a home in 70% of the country in 2019, according to a report from CBS News.
ATTOM Data Solutions conducted a study examining what percentage of the average person’s income it would take to achieve home ownership across 473 U.S. counties, and 335 of the counties revealed median home prices that were more than what their wage earners could afford.
Chief product officer of AATOM, Todd Teta, said in a statement, “Affordability may improve because of the simple fact that homes are out of reach for so many home seekers.”
Unsurprisingly, the residences of New York City were ranked as the most unattainable, as the study estimated that it would take 115 percent of the average NYC worker’s income to buy a home in Manhattan or Brooklyn. In second place is San Francisco, where residents must spend 103 percent of their annual income, followed by Hawaii’s Maui County, where it would take 101 percent.
However, the study also concluded that average folks could afford a home in Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Detroit and Philadelphia.