Only 3 of 50 top US metro areas meet 30% home affordability rule for buyers

The 30% rule — one in which potential homebuyers limit their mortgage payment to 30% of their monthly income — is a common standard that homebuyers typically follow so that the yearly cost of a home doesn’t put too much of a strain on their finances.

However, according to a new report from Realtor.com, places where homebuyers can follow that recommendation when buying a home are becoming fewer and farther between in the country’s major metropolitan areas. 

Affordability in just three of America’s 50 top metro areas is such that households that make the median income can scoop up a home that won’t go above 30% of their yearly earnings, the report found. 

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Realtor.com said it determined the three major metro areas where the 30% rule remains feasible by “using a standard 20% down payment and May’s average mortgage rate of 6.82%.” It also factored in tax and insurance.

A For Sale sign hangs in front of a house in Patchogue, New York, on June 1, 2024. (Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Those metro areas were Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan; and St. Louis, Missouri, the real estate marketplace said. 

Median yearly household incomes in those cities were $72,935, $72,493 and $79,869, respectively, according to the report. 

In Pittsburgh, the proportion of a household’s median annual income required to be capable of footing a $249,900 home in the area was 27.4%. The report pegged the amount that a household would need to pay for the mortgage, tax and insurance per year at $19,970.

In Pittsburgh, the proportion of a household’s median annual income required to be capable of footing a $249,900 home in the area was 27.4%. (iStock / iStock)

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, meanwhile, utilized 29.8% of a household’s annual income for a home asking the median of $270,000 in May, according to Realtor.com. The yearly mortgage payment, tax and insurance would amount to $21,576.

Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, meanwhile, utilized 29.8% of a household’s annual income for a home asking the median of $270,000 in May. (Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Households in the St. Louis area are capable of covering a median home’s associated payments with 30% of their yearly income, the real estate marketplace reported.

Households in the St. Louis area are capable of covering a median home’s associated payments with 30% of their yearly income. (REUTERS/Tom Gannam / Reuters Photos)

Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said in a statement that while “a few” Midwestern markets “still offer a path to homeownership for the median-income household who can make a 20% down payment,” it “remains out of financial reach without significant changes to either housing…