$500K+ Salary is Needed to Buy a Home in San Jose 📈

Key Takeaways

• Americans need to make $108,486 in income to afford a median-priced home in 2025.
• Buying a home in San Jose requires an eye-watering $501,760 salary, where the median price is over $2 million—up from $1.8 million in May 2024.
• By contrast, a salary of $63,611 is needed to afford a home in Cleveland, the lowest across 50 cities analyzed by Home Sweet Home.

Affordability Grows Further Out of Reach

Since 2017, the salary needed to buy a median-priced home in America has more than doubled, driven by soaring home prices and elevated interest rates.

In major cities like Los Angeles and San Diego, home buyers need to shell out over $5,000 for monthly mortgage payments.

In San Jose, this jumps to $11,708 due to skyrocketing home prices driven by low housing supply and high demand from tech workers.