What kind of house can you get for a hundred grand? Well, that depends upon where you want to live.
Making $100,000 a year is viewed by many Americans as a sign of success, considering that the national median household income is $70,784, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey data for 2021.
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Median household income varies broadly by location, ranging from under $40,000 in some cities, to over $150,000 in others.
Between 2017 and 2022, the share of U.S. households making more than $100,000 per year increased by nearly 3%. Thirty-four percent of U.S. households now earn that much annually, though wages are still lagging behind cost-of-living increases.
In some parts of the country, a $100,000 salary gives you a lot of options when it comes to shopping for a new house.
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Where to buy a house on a $100,000 salary
As a growing number of people at all income levels put more of their earnings toward expenses, it's become increasingly difficult to save money to buy a house.
But in addition to saving for a down payment, prospective homeowners also need solid income if they want to get a mortgage. Lenders look at income to determine the monthly payment someone could reasonably afford.
Using its troves of housing data, the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com keep tabs on the share of homes currently for sale across the U.S. that are considered affordable for people at different income levels.
To find the maximum affordable home price for a given income level, they assume 30% of a prospective buyer's income goes toward the housing payment, property tax, and homeowner's insurance. They also assume buyers are choosing a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and a variable down payment.
The 15 metro areas highlighted in the map below stood out as having the highest share of affordable listings for people earning $100,000, as of June 2023.
In other words, the majority of homes for sale in these markets were available to people earning a low-six figure income.
The top four housing markets for affordable listings were located in Ohio, which dovetails with an earlier NAR study on home affordability, where locations in the Buckeye State featured prominently. In these markets, more than six in 10 of the active listings in June 2023 were considered affordable for $100,000 earners.
Ohio’s affordability probably shouldn’t come as a surprise. The cost of living there is 11% lower than the national average, and housing is 28% lower than the national average, according to The Cost of Living Index published by the Council for Community and Economic Research.
Akron offers the most choices for buyers earning $100,000, with about seven in 10 listings in that market affordable to buyers in that income bracket.
Toledo was not far behind, followed by Dayton-Kettering and Cleveland-Elyria.
By contrast, multiple metros in California had almost no affordable options available to $100,000 earners. San Jose rounded out the bottom of the list of all U.S. metros, with just 0.2% of home listings classified as affordable for those buyers.
In the table below, you'll find the 15 metros with the highest share of affordable home listings for prospective buyers earning $100,000 a year, plus the median sales price of single-family homes there for the second quarter of 2023.
| Metro | Share of affordable listings (%) | Median sales price |
|---|---|---|
Akron, OH |
71.1% |
$206,000 |
Toledo, OH |
70% |
$177,200 |
Dayton-Kettering, OH |
68.4% |
$234,800 |
Cleveland-Elyria, OH |
67.4% |
$191,400 |
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA |
66.9% |
$228,700 |
Syracuse, NY |
63.7% |
$211,600 |
Pittsburgh, PA |
63.4% |
$225,900 |
Rochester, NY |
62.3% |
$240,600 |
St. Louis, MO-IL |
62.3% |
$266,200 |
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY |
62% |
$236,800 |
Columbia, SC |
61.5% |
$262,800 |
Jackson, MS |
60.8% |
$277,600 |
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI |
60.5% |
$265,300 |
Winston-Salem, NC |
60.2% |
$292,200 |
Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC |
59.7% |
Not available |
The Takeaway: A majority of the homes for sale in Akron, Toledo, and other Ohio cities were affordable for $100,000 earners in June. Many of the most affordable homes were in the Northeast and Midwest.
