It would take 12 years for a median-income household to save up the nearly $128,000 down payment needed to comfortably afford a typical US home costing $360,000, Zillow estimates in an analysis that lays bare the affordability crisis.
Zillow found the typical Pittsburgh home only costs about $217,000, meaning a median-income household could take out a mortgage with zero money down and still afford the monthly payments. That was true for the median home nationally five years ago, when home prices were half as high, and mortgage rates were around 4% versus 7% today.
In contrast, the real estate marketplace said that to afford a typical San Jose home costing $1.6 million, a median-income household would have to save for over 36 years to make the $1.3 million down payment needed.
Zillow assumed that households can save 10% of their monthly income and earn a 4% yearly return. It defined an affordable monthly payment as no more than 30% of the household's monthly income.
We've ranked 50 major metro areas by the number of years of saving required for a median-income household to afford the down payment on a typical home in each. They're ordered from the fewest years to the most, and assume no down payment assistance: