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Too much, too much, too much...
When queried by curious neighbors, family members, or solicitors how much they paid for their residence, every last recent San Francisco homebuyer has a built-in answer: Too much.
Exact answer: $115,510.06. The six cents is, apparently, important.
That's the calculation reached by the website
HSH.com, which tabulated the salary one must pull down in order to afford the median-priced home in 25 cities.
Congratulations! You're gonna put 20 percent down. You're gonna have a "standard 28 percent 'front-end' debt ratio." And your salary will, in actuality, have to be much higher to pay taxes, furnish the place, and squander your remaining savings on food and heat.
Oh, you're gonna pay too much. Here's how much of a salary it takes to afford a median-priced home in those 25 bergs:
1. Cleveland: $19,435.17
2. Cincinnati: $22,226.95
3. St. Louis: $22,397.54
4. Atlanta: $24,390.94
5. Tampa: $24,650.88
6. Orlando: $28,298.47
7. San Antonio: $29,305.47
8. Dallas: $29,751.24
9. Houston: $31,298.99
10. Chicago: $32,388.90
11. Phoenix: $32,811.94
12. Minneapolis: $33,800.09
13. Philadelphia: $36,836.47
14. Baltimore: $41,155.40
15. Sacramento: $42,832.20
16. Miami: $43,918.66
17. Portland, Ore.: $45,872.78
18. Denver: $48,122.72
19. Seattle: $59,129.86
20. Washington, D.C.: $62,809.63
21. Boston: $63,673.13
22. New York City: $66,167.27
23. Los Angeles: $72,126.90
24. San Diego: $81,570.40
25. San Francisco: $115,510.06
What's it all mean? It means that home ownership is elusive in San Francisco -- surprise, surprise, surprise.
The median household income here is $73,802. So you'll have to earn nearly 160 percent of that just to really
think about buying a middle-of-the-road home here -- and even more still to be able to afford to live in it.
Alas. In San Francisco, you're never home-free.
