Two workers with similar jobs can afford very different homes depending on where they live in the country, Zillow Real Estate Research found.
For example, a law enforcement worker in Jackson, Miss., makes around $27,000 annually compared to a person with the same career in Santa Rosa, Calif., who makes around $96,000.
“But differences in incomes alone do not explain the wide differences in mortgage affordability for workers across the country,” the report says. A lot also has to do with how much of a paycheck a household is accustomed to contribute to mortgage payments.
Households in San Francisco, Honolulu, and Los Angeles are accustomed to dedicating upward of 35 percent of their income to their mortgage payment, while households in Saginaw, Mich., or Augusta, Ga., are used to spending less than 14 percent of their income.
PB Topical Ref
