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NHC Beyond 4 Walls Podcast

Paycheck to Paycheck

The P2P database illustrates the ability of a wide range of occupations to afford typical housing in metropolitan areas across the country.

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Compare up to ten occupations in a single metro area.

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Compare up to three different metro areas and a single occupation.

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NHC’s Paycheck to Paycheck database illustrates the ability – or lack thereof – of working families to afford typical housing in metropolitan areas across the country by comparing wage data and housing costs.

We update our database every quarter to keep up with the country’s rapidly changing housing market. In conjunction with these updates, we issue quarterly reports highlighting a different angle of the housing costs facing families across the country. Check out our visualization tool below or download the data yourself to get the latest snapshot of housing affordability across the country.

Paycheck to Paycheck uses three data sources:

Using these three sources, we estimate the annual salary needed to afford to sustainably own or rent a home in 390 metropolitan areas, and compare that to the median annual salary for 150 occupations. (Due to regional differences in employment levels, BLS does not provide wage data for certain occupations in certain metropolitan areas. We are unable to compare wage and housing price data for those occupations in those areas.) We assume that rent should represent no more than 30% of one’s gross income, and that costs associated with homeownership should represent no more than 28% of one’s gross income (given the need to be able to pay for unforeseen maintenance costs).

When calculating the salary necessary to afford homeownership in a given metropolitan area, we assume the prevailing annual percentage rate (APR), property taxes equal to 1.1% of the value of the home annually, homeowner’s insurance equal to 0.35% of the value of the home annually, and private mortgage insurance equal to 1% of the value of the home annually.

Our affordability calculations are based on monthly housing costs, principally rent and mortgage payments. They do not account for other barriers to obtaining housing, such as saving up for a down payment, exclusionary zoning that renders neighborhoods near jobs and transit prohibitively expensive, or discrimination.

Job loss, housing composition changes, and personal preferences mean that many households rely on just one income to get by. In recent years, about a third of households in the United States had just one wage earner, and the median number of earners per household is around 1.3.

Reports & Data

NHC's Paycheck to Paycheck Winter 2022 Quarterly Update

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NHC's Paycheck to Paycheck Fall 2021 Quarterly Report

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NHC's Paycheck to Paycheck Data Update June 2023

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NHC's Paycheck to Paycheck Data Update September 2023

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NHC's Paycheck to Paycheck Data Update December 2023

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