Photo by Mr. T in DCA person needs to earn at least $62,809.63 a year in order to afford a home in the D.C. area.
That number comes from a ranking conducted by HSH.com, a mortgage information site, which put the median home price in the metro area at $368,000.
“The required salary to afford a median-priced home in the D.C. metro area jumped more than $14,000 between the first and third quarter,” the site says. “Luckily for D.C. homebuyers, that figure declined by $5,535 in the last quarter of 2013. A stronger fourth-quarter price decline was largely responsible.”
It should be noted that the study calculated what you’d need to live in the area, not D.C. Indeed, the median home price in D.C. is $444,500, according to Zillow, as compared to $344,900 in the metro area. Within this city, the listing price shifts dramatically neighborhood to neighborhood. A yearly salary of around $80,000 is closer to what you’d need to buy a home in Washington.
