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It takes a salary of $48K to afford a house in Austin

Homebuyers need a higher—but much higher—income in just 5 other metro areas, all in California and New York

By Cindy Widner
A little wooden house model on a big thing of fake grass Creative Commons

Looking to buy a home in the Austin metro area? You’ll need a minimum income of $47,523 annually to make that happen.

That’s according to a new study by financial data site SmartAsset, which recently looked at median home payments in the 15 largest U.S. cities and calculated the salaries needed to pay them.

Assuming a 20% down payment, monthly payments on a median-value home in Austin will be about $1,426, according to SmartAsset. For Austin, the salary recommended to pay the mortgage, property taxes, and homeowners insurance should be at least $47,523—a figure that is actually lower than Austin’s median household salary of $57,689.

Austin ranked sixth in the national study, behind four California cities—San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego at 1, 2, 4, and 5, respectively—with New York City coming at third place.

However, there was a large jump between Austin’s number and those of the five cities above it, which had recommended salaries ranging from $75,816 to $128,598 per year.

Although Austin Texas had some of the highest property taxes in the study, the relatively low home values make it more affordable than big California cities.