U.S. Metros Ranked by Share of Mortgage-Burdened Households

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, almost 50% of Americans are worried about the lack of affordable housing in their city. The survey also revealed that the number of Americans concerned about the decreasing affordability of housing has increased in recent years, and this is a valid concern. 

To get a better understanding of the situation, an analysis was performed on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, focusing on where homeowners are spending the highest proportion of their income on mortgage payments. The analysis required a minimum of 100,000 mortgage holders in each metropolitan area in 2020.

Many residents in populous U.S. cities are struggling to afford their mortgage payments due to rapidly increasing home values. To ensure that people can cover other necessary expenses like food, transportation, and healthcare, experts have been using a reliable method for decades. It involves limiting housing expenses to 30% of one’s annual income. 

Find out if your metro is also a part of the list: 

1. Los Angeles

With 41.8% mortgage-burdened homeowners out of a total of 1,498,220 mortgage holders, Los Angeles is considered to be one of the most unaffordable places to live in the U.S. LA, in fact, is the poster child for alarmingly high housing costs and homeless working people in the U.S. According to Census data, the annual income of a typical household in L.A. is $65,000. As per Realtor.com data, the typical home in L.A. sells for $1 million.

Los Angeles County, like other counties in California, has, in fact, seen its population decline since the start of the pandemic. Experts have found out that residents are literally being driven out, in part, in search of cheaper housing. And forget affordable homes for sale in L.A. — the Los Angeles Times has dubbed even finding a place to rent a “competitive sport” in today’s economy. 

2. Miami

The coastal oasis of Miami is one of the country’s least affordable cities, with a 40.4% mortgage-burdened population out of a total of 760,044 mortgage holders. The place is even more densely populated than L.A., so much so that The Miami Herald’s editorial board has moved from describing the lack of affordable housing in the metro area as a “problem” to dubbing it a full-blown “crisis.”

Miami-Dade County itself officially declared a housing emergency in early 2022. Even programs intended to spur the building of more affordable housing, according to The Herald, have been inadequate in resolving the situation over the last decade. At approximately $44,000 per year, the median household income in Miami is found to be staggeringly low compared to South Florida’s housing costs. The typical home in Miami sells for $500,000, according to Realtor.com.

3. Oxnard, California

This childhood hometown of farm labor activist Cesar Chavez and the training camp site for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys is located one-hour northwest of downtown L.A. Oxnard is considered part of the metro area that includes Thousand Oaks and Ventura.

The region’s economy is dependent on agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and, increasingly, the financial and tech sectors. The share of mortgage-burdened families in Oxnard stands at 38.8% out of a total of 122,724 mortgage holders. The average household there earns $77,000 per year, and the typical home in Oxnard sells for $760,000, according to Realtor.com.

4. San Diego

The city boasts much of the same natural, oceanside beauty offered by L.A., but as per Census data, it is about half as densely populated. Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego, began an effort in March 2022 to spur new home building with the hopes of alleviating the shortage currently driving up housing costs for residents. The number of mortgage holders in San Diego totals 434,507, out of which 38.5% are mortgage-burdened.  

Real estate analysts, who have watched locals leave the city in recent years in search of cheaper housing elsewhere, argue wages haven’t caught up with the San Diego area’s high cost of living. The typical household in San Diego earns around $83,000 per year, and the average home sold is for $911,000.

5. Riverside, California

Riverside, California, an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles, is part of the metro area known as the Inland Empire. Home prices in Riverside have nearly tripled in the last two decades. Some experts have suggested the growing remote work trend is pushing more workers to purchase homes in less population-dense portions of the state.

Each square mile of L.A., on average, is home to more than 8,000 people. That level of density is much higher than in Riverside, where each square mile is home to around 300 people, according to Census data. The typical home in Riverside sells for around $625,000, according to Realtor.com, with Census data showing the median household income to be $70,000 annually. Almost 38.1% of the total 621,258 mortgage holders in Riverside are mortgage-burdened. 

6. New York

Many consider New York City to be the most unaffordable place one could own a home in the U.S., and its proportion of mortgage-burdened homeowners is high. Out of 2,298,350 mortgage holders, 38.1% are mortgage-burdened. As per Realtor.com data, the median home in New York is sold for $860,000 today. The city suffers from an acute shortage of housing, placing upward pressure on rental costs as well as mortgages. As housing costs are hitting all-time highs, elected officials are facing immense pressure to alleviate the shortage.

7. Honolulu

Honolulu, Hawaii, has an even greater share of mortgage-burdened homeowners than San Francisco. About 37.8% of a total of 120,650 mortgage holders are mortgage-burdened in Honolulu. Faced with steep declines in tourism revenues, Hawaii’s own government, as well as local business CEOs, worked hard to attract remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic — a move that could have a lasting impact on Aloha State’s housing affordability.

In the capital city on the island of Oahu’s south shore, the typical household earns around $87,000 annually, and the median home is listed for $700,000, according to Realtor.com data. Experts in Hawaii have advocated that the rising cost of everything, including housing, has only reinforced the argument that the island state needs more affordable housing.

8. San Francisco

More than a third of homeowners in many of California’s most populous metros are considered mortgage-burdened, and homeowners in San Francisco have to accept some of the most expensive real estate prices in the entire U.S. California’s so-called Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. It is home to an exceptionally wealthy tranche of Americans due to the concentration of high-paying tech jobs in the region.

The average annual income in San Francisco County in 2020 was nearly $120,000, and in San Jose, it’s $117,000, according to Census data. Despite higher incomes, sky-high home values in the Bay Area still ensure that mortgage payments make up an outsized portion of residents’ financial obligations each year. Out of a total of 664,099 mortgage holders, 35.4% are mortgage-burdened in San Francisco. 

9. Stamford, Connecticut

Like Poughkeepsie, Stamford’s proximity to New York has made it a magnet for wealthy individuals looking to move out of the crowded city. Stamford is considered part of the wealthy, majority-white metro area that also includes the neighboring cities of Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Danbury, also known as Connecticut’s “Gold Coast.”

Between 2010 and 2020, Stamford’s population grew its fastest since the mid-1900s, adding more than 10,000 residents. The city is home to several Fortune 500 companies, including Charter Communications, United Rentals, and Indeed. According to the most recent Census data, the median income in Stamford is nearly $97,000 annually, and the typical home in the metro area lists $600,000. The total number of mortgage holders in Stamford is 158,763, out of which 35.3% are mortgage-burdened. 

10. Poughkeepsie, New York

Housing prices in Poughkeepsie have been rising steadily as the city, situated on the bank of the Hudson River just north of New York City, has gone through a revival of sorts in recent years. Victorian-style houses have been bought up and renovated, historic railroad infrastructure turned into tourist destinations, and sprawling parking lots have been cleared and replaced with multifamily apartment complexes.

The typical person living in Poughkeepsie earns around $47,000 per year, according to Census data. Meanwhile, the median sale price of a home in the city is $333,000, according to data from Realtor.com. The share of mortgage-burdened homeowners, out of a total of 107,363 mortgage holders in Poughkeepsie, is 35.2%. 

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