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It’s no secret that San Francisco, California, is among one of the—if not the—most expensive market in the nation. But how expensive is it?
A study by LendingTree found that with an average cost of $1.19 million, a median-priced home in the Golden Gate City is worth an average of 5.4 homes in one of the nation’s largest cities.
Additionally, a median-prices home in San Francisco costs almost 10 times the area’s median-yearly income of $112,376.
The study found that for what it costs to buy a home in San Francisco, one could purchase 23.2 homes in Detroit, Michigan. LendingTree states that Detroit has an average home price of $51,600.
Detroit had the largest difference to home prices in San Francisco at $1.14 million. The second-farthest from San Francisco was Memphis, Tennessee, and its average home price of $103,700. One could purchase 11.2 homes in Memphis for the same price of one home in San Francisco.
Detroit had the lowest average income at $31,283, and homeowners in Memphis made an average of $37,199.
Other markers that were farthest from San Francisco’s home prices are: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; El Paso, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Tulsa, Oklahoma; San Antonio, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Omaha, Nebraska.
In total, 19 markets had an average home price less than $1 million of San Francisco's average home price.
The market closest to San Francisco is San Jose, California, with an average home price of $968,500—a difference of just $227,200. San Jose has an higher average salary that San Francisco at $113,036.
Seattle, Washington, was the next closest market with an average home price of $728,200, and was followed by Oakland, California’s $717,700.
Markets that were closest to the Golden Gate City were: Los Angeles, California; San Diego, California; New York, New York; Washington, D.C.; Long Beach, California; and Boston, Massachusetts.
LendingTree, however, says there are ways to reduce housing costs in San Francisco, with one of the main ones being refinancing.
If a homebuyer bought an average home in the market with a 20% down payment with a “fair” credit score, they could refinance and save $301 on their monthly payment and $34,022 over the life of their loan.
