It’s always been pretty expensive to buy a home, no matter where you live in the country. But over the last decade or so, home prices have soared to heights so high that they have caused the number of renters compared to homebuyers to triple in size in the U.S., according to Realtor.com.
California, in particular, has seen the price of a home skyrocket, with multiple cities in the state now being called the most “unaffordable” places to live in the country.
A new report from WalletHub examined 300 cities in the U.S. to determine which were deemed the most “affordable.” The report used a variety of factors including house affordability, maintenance costs, and median home prices to score each city and determine their rankings.
At the very bottom of the list sit a large number of cities found in California. In fact, 25 of the bottom 30 are California cities.
Ranking as the most ‘unaffordable’ city in the country is Santa Barbara, where the average price per square foot for a home is $1,300. For comparison, it’s only $61 per square foot in Flint, Michigan — the most “affordable” city in the country.
In terms of total score, Santa Barbara finished with a 22.63 out of a possible 100 points. The city finished last in home affordability and second-to-last for rent-to-price ratio.
Not far behind as the second most “unaffordable” city in the country is Santa Monica, which scored a 24.84. The average price per square foot here isn’t much better at $1,200.
Some bigger cities on the list included Los Angeles, which finished as arguably the most “unaffordable” large city in the U.S. Other large California cities San Francisco, San Jose, and San Diego (just to name a few) ranked in the bottom 30.
Here’s the full listing of the 30 most “unaffordable” cities in the country, according to WalletHub.
You can see the full rankings of cities across the country, as well as other California cities, on WalletHub’s website.
If you’re strictly looking at the price to own a home in California, it can get really expensive in several of the state’s largest cities.
According to data from Zillow, if you’re looking to buy a home and put just 10% down on that home, you need to be making at least $297,417. On top of that, your monthly payment on the home will be $7,435.
That’s not so bad when you look at San Francisco, where you need over $360,000 to afford a home at 10% down. And even that isn’t as bad as San Jose, which says you need to make roughly $510,000. Even if you were to have enough saved up to put 20% down in San Jose, it’s still recommended that you earn about $425,000 if you want to own a home there, says Zillow.
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