You don’t need to dig too deep into the past to get an idea of how much home prices have skyrocketed in the United States.
Here’s a look at the 10 most and least affordable ZIP codes for renters to buy a home, based on mortgage-to-income ratio.
Real Estate Is Changing Fast for Both Renters and Buyers
Since the beginning of the century, the median sales price of homes sold has risen more than 150%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This decade alone, the median second-quarter price climbed from $317,100 in 2020 to $410,800 in 2025 — a gain of roughly 30%.
The average monthly mortgage payment was $2,329 as of September 2025, according to Rocket Mortgage — up 21% from two years earlier. Meanwhile, RentCafe estimates that average rents in the U.S. are $1,740 a month as of mid-December.
The cost of purchasing a home has become so prohibitive that the median age of first-time buyers rose to 40-years-old in 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors. It was the oldest age ever recorded and well above the median of 33 only five years earlier.
With home prices continuing to rise, where can renters afford to buy a home — and where can they not afford it?
MovingPlace, an online moving solutions platform, recently conducted an analysis of the 150 most populous ZIP codes in the U.S. to determine which are the most affordable for renters to buy and move into their own homes and which aren’t.
The analysis compared the average monthly mortgage payment per ZIP code to the average renter’s income to calculate the mortgage-to-income ratio. ZIP codes with a lower mortgage-to-income ratio were deemed the most affordable for renters to buy and move into their own homes.
Learn More: How Much House Does $300K, $400K and $500K Buy You in Every State?
Find Out: How Middle-Class Earners Are Quietly Becoming Millionaires — and How You Can, Too
Most Affordable Zip Codes
30349 — Atlanta, Georgia
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 25.1%
- Median home value: $257,899
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,460
75217 — Dallas, Texas
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 25.3%
- Median home value: $191,313
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,324
60617 — Chicago, Illinois
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 26.2%
- Median home value: $170,358
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,230
37042 — Clarksville, Tennessee
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 29.6%
- Median home value: $294,625
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,485
60629 — Chicago, Illinois
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 30.3%
- Median home value: $264,371
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,420
73099 — Yukon, Oklahoma
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 31.4%
- Median home value: $271,536
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,549
60623 — Chicago, Illinois
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 31.6%
- Median home value: $206,908
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,480
78577 — Pharr, Texas
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 34.1%
- Median home value: $161,509
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,128
27610 — Raleigh, North Carolina
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 34.5%
- Median home value: $322,939
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,900
28269 — Charlotte, North Carolina
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 36.0%
- Median home value: $359,495
- Typical mortgage payment: $1,871
Least Affordable Zip Codes
11204 — New, New York (Brooklyn)
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 135.0%
- Median home value: $1,198,458
- Typical mortgage payment: $7,617
10453 — New York, New York (Bronx)
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 117.4%
- Median home value: $587,327
- Typical mortgage payment: $3,767
98052 — Redmond, Washington
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 100.3%
- Median home value: $1,324,787
- Typical mortgage payment: $7,148
10025 — New York, New York (Manhattan)
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 93.7%
- Median home value: $1,106,176
- Typical mortgage payment: $7,036
11385 — New York, New York (Queens)
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 92.7%
- Median home value: $864,244
- Typical mortgage payment: $5,511
98012 — Bothell, Washington
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 91.3%
- Median home value: $989,943
- Typical mortgage payment: $5,357
91709 — Chino Hills, California
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 90.2%
- Median home value: $975,400
- Typical mortgage payment: $4,690
10314 — New York, New York (Staten Island)
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 82.4%
- Median home value: $694,695
- Typical mortgage payment: $4,443
60647 — Chicago, Illinois
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 79.0%
- Median home value: $532,088
- Typical mortgage payment: $3,702
90250 — Hawthorne, California
- Mortgage-to-income ratio: 72.1%
- Median home value: $857,728
- Typical mortgage payment: $4,132
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 ZIP Codes Where Renters Can Afford To Buy a Home — And 10 Where They Can’t
