Here's How Much Money You Need to Earn in Each State to Afford a Home

By this point, it’s well-known that American Millennials are much slower to buy homes than Baby Boomers were at their ages. While certain cultural changes have contributed to this trend—people are waiting longer to get married and have children, for example—the most common reasons to continue renting ad infinitum are financial. In other words, it’s especially hard to afford a house these days. That said, residents of some states have it easier than others.

According to a study by The Cost Guys, West Virginians only need to make $26,393 a year to become homeowners—the lowest of any U.S. state. In general, Appalachia, the Midwest, and the South are good places to live if you have your heart set on pocketing keys to your own tiny kingdom; in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Oklahoma, you can feasibly afford a home on an annual salary below $40,000.

If you live in Hawaii, on the other hand, you might end up renting for the long run; that is, unless you earn $152,676 per year (or more). Parts of the continental U.S. put up similarly high stats: Californians need to earn at least $136,600 to set up shop, and inhabitants of Colorado, Washington, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. all need more than $100,000.

To come up with these figures, The Cost Guys worked off the widespread assumption that about 30 percent of your annual earnings will go toward your home—which includes mortgage, insurance, property tax, and down payment—and used median real estate values from Zillow to calculate how much that percentage would amount to.

If you’re feeling discouraged by the high price tags on homeownership, it’s worth noting that there’s plenty of room for variation. Maybe you find a home listed for much less than your state’s median value, or maybe you can negotiate a deal for a much smaller down payment than 10 percent (which is what The Cost Guys used for their analysis). There’s also the possibility that you’re able to budget a little more than 30 percent of your income toward housing costs.

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