The salary you need to buy a home in 27 U.S. cities

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by 2e1m5a

It would be interesting to see a recent list of disposable income in cities too.

Here's a list of the Top 20 Metro areas with the Most Disposable Income after paying for housing along with a scatter graph for the remaining. Interestingly enough many of the "unaffordable cities" such as DC, NYC, San Francisco and Boston top the list.

The U.S. Cities With the Most Leftover to Spend ... After Paying for Housing - CityLab

[Trigger-f]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Here's a list of the Top 20 Metro areas with the Most Disposable Income after paying for housing along with a scatter graph for the remaining. Interestingly enough many of the "unaffordable cities" such as DC, NYC, San Francisco and Boston top the list.

The U.S. Cities With the Most Leftover to Spend ... After Paying for Housing - CityLab

And that disposable income will be spent on taxes and other living expenses that are higher than AZ, TX, FL, GA.

A house in DC can easily run upward $700K (which is mind boggling considering the materials being used on houses up there, wood, wood and wood). Btw, half of that value is for the lot the house is on. And not everyone makes a lot of $ up there either. Makes you wonder what happened to the American dream for so many people.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Here's a list of the Top 20 Metro areas with the Most Disposable Income after paying for housing along with a scatter graph for the remaining. Interestingly enough many of the "unaffordable cities" such as DC, NYC, San Francisco and Boston top the list.

The U.S. Cities With the Most Leftover to Spend ... After Paying for Housing - CityLab

Again, the median salary "leftover" after housing would be considerably different. The fundamental issue is that cities like New York, Boston, San Francisco and DC all have a 10-15% cadre of very high income earners that distort the average wage measure. These are executives in fields like finance, tech, law and senior government positions. Thus, it doesn't paint a truly accurate picture of widespread affluence in those areas.

While this is from 2009, it's the most recent data I could find that truly paints the most accurate picture of median wages by cost-of-living. It's a "cost effectiveness" measure for each metro that takes the median household income for each metro area and adjusts it according to the Cost of Living Index (COLI). You'll see that all of the "top earning" cities you've mentioned are adjusted pretty significantly downward.

List of Metro Areas By Cost Effectiveness (Adjusted Income) | True Cost - Analyzing our economy, government policy, and society through the lens of cost-benefit

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Trigger-f

And that disposable income will be spent on taxes and other living expenses that are higher than AZ, TX, FL, GA.
.

I can't speak for AZ or FL or GA but I can for Texas.

Texas has no state income tax. That in itself closes the gap created by it's higher property taxes. Also, you may pay more of a percentage in property taxes, but when your actual property costs half or even 1/4 what you'd pay elsewhere, your property taxes are STILL lower than you'd pay in many areas with "lower rates."

For instance, I'd rather pay 2 percent on a $200,000 property ($4000) than 1 percent on a similar $500,000 property elsewhere ($5000). And I couldn't even afford a home like mine (2600 square feet brick, updated custom built home on 1 acre) in many areas. My gosh, it would cost triple what we paid for it in many parts of the country. And we don't live out in the sticks - we live in a mid size metro area within an hour or so of Dallas and have a ton of amenities available, including many professional jobs.

Not to mention the extra I'd be paying in interest on that higher mortgage elsewhere each month - oh, and probably paying state income tax as well.

No thanks!