The Search for Affordable Housing Is Pushing the Middle Class to the Exurbs

New data and maps from the real estate research firm Zillow shed light on the uneven nature of housing prices across several major U.S. cities and metros.

One commonly held metric is that families should devote no more than about 28 percent of their incomes to housing. But in certain parts of the country, that's easier said than done. By the end of last year, the median family would need to devote much more than a third — up to nearly forty percent — of its income to mortgage payments on the median home in metros like San Jose (36 percent); San Francisco (39 percent); and Los Angeles (40 percent). These proportions are even higher than in the pre-bubble, pre-crash period of 1985-2000, when the median household would have needed to devote still substantial percentages of its income to afford the median house: 32 percent in New York; 35 percent in Los Angeles; 35 percent in San Jose; and 38 percent in San Francisco.