50% of Americans Can’t Afford a House in These 17 Cities

If you’re thinking about buying a home, you’re likely wondering, “How much house can I afford?” Of course, you can buy a lot more house for your money in some places. But if you live in one of the most expensive cities, you might not even be able to afford a home.

In fact, we found that in many large cities, homeownership is likely out of reach for more than half of the households. We used the median home listing price in the 100 biggest cities to figure the monthly mortgage payment. Using the rule of thumb that no more than 30 percent of income should go toward housing, we calculated the income needed to afford a mortgage in those cities. We then compared this income to the number of households with income equal to or greater than that amount.

Out of the 100 largest cities in the U.S., we ranked the ones where homeownership is out of reach for more than 50 percent of households, from the lowest percentage to highest. Click through to find out if you can afford a home in America’s largest cities.