How affordable is Phoenix for buying a home? Clever Real Estate just published new research that found that Phoenix is the 31st-most affordable city for housing in the U.S. based on local home prices and income.
Phoenix has a median home price of $476,700 and a median household income of $90,133. This means it has a price-to-income ratio of 5.29, compared to the national ratio of 5.08.
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Key takeaway: The national home-price-to-income ratio is 5.08, nearly double the recommended maximum of 2.6. None of the 50 most populous metros have a home-price-to-income ratio at or below the recommended 2.6.
Since 1980, the median U.S. home price has grown 551%, while median household incomes have only risen 373%.
If the median household income had kept pace with home prices since 1980, it would have reached $115,225 in 2024, over $30,000 more than the actual median income.
Four of the country’s five least affordable cities for housing are, unsurprisingly, concentrated in California: San Jose (11.65), Los Angeles (9.75), San Francisco (9.62), and San Diego (9.11). Miami rounds out the top five with a ratio of 7.88.
The median U.S. home costs $414,900 while the median household earns $81,604 per year, according to the most recent Census Bureau data, which this study uses to calculate ratios nationally and by metro.
This produces a national home-price-to-income ratio of 5.08. That is nearly double the 2.6 ratio financial experts generally recommend as the maximum for housing to be considered affordable.
Of the 50 most populous U.S. metros, Pittsburgh has the lowest home-price-to-income ratio at 3.07. The median home there costs $237,400 on a median income of $77,214. Despite being the most affordable, it still exceeds the recommended 2.6 threshold.
San Jose, where the median home costs $1.92 million on a median income of $164,801, has the highest home-price-to-income ratio at 11.65, nearly four times Pittsburgh’s ratio.
