Along with San Jose, San Francisco, Honolulu, and San Diego, Boulder cracked the top five for worst affordability out of the 173 metro areas analyzed by NerdWallet.
Boulder has a median home price of $546,000, and a median household income of $74,615. The Denver Post reports that the principal and interest payment are 33.9 percent of monthly income, which would be considered cost-burdened. By comparison, in the least affordable metro of all, San Jose, the principal and interest payment accounts for 53.4 percent of monthly income, and in the most affordable metro, Cumberland, Maryland, the payment is 8.5 percent of monthly income.
NerdWallet calculated affordability for 173 metropolitan areas by comparing the median annual household income and the monthly principal-and-interest payment for a median-priced single-family home. “Median” means half of the values or incomes are higher and half are lower. The lists were compiled using data from the National Association of Realtors, the Census Bureau, and NerdWallet surveys.
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