14. Houston
Median listing price: $324,900
Percentage of households that can’t afford a home: 58.9 percent
Although Houston has the second-lowest median listing price on our list, homes still are too expensive for nearly 60 percent of households. That’s because the city’s median household income of $47,793 is well below the $56,160 annual income needed to pay a monthly mortgage of $1,404 on a median-priced home.
Home prices did drop around the time Hurricane Harvey hit in August 2017, according to Zillow data. But the city’s housing market appears to have recovered, and prices have been climbing.