Where the average US worker can afford to buy a house

The median home price passed the $300,000 threshold earlier this year, while experts expect affordability will continue to remain a challenge – particularly among more moderately priced homes.

According to online real estate website Trulia, the list price for a home across the nation jumped more than 19 percent over the past three years, but wages only rose 6.7 percent over the same time frame.

A general rule of thumb is that an individual spend no more than 30 percent of his income on housing for it to be considered affordable – however, Trulia found that the average American worker would need to spend more than 46 percent of his income in order to afford a median-priced home in the current economy.

Using wage data by occupation and location, Trulia examined for-sale homes in the largest U.S. metro areas to determine where teachers, first responders, restaurant workers and doctors – those who typically need to be nearby their workplaces – could afford to live if they spent 30 percent of their income on housing.

The results showed that affordability is a challenge around the country. Even in pricey markets on the West Coast, like Los Angeles, where emergency responders earn six-figures, they can only afford one-quarter of homes.

In mid-priced markets, like Denver, teachers are unable to afford 90 percent of homes.

Memphis, meanwhile, was found to have the highest proportion of affordable homes for restaurant workers at 25.1 percent.

Here’s a look at the results from differently priced markets around the country:

San Jose, California

Median list price: $1,087,500

Doctors who can afford: 51 percent

First responders who can afford: 10.6 percent

Teachers who can afford: 0.7 percent

Restaurant workers who can afford: 0.2 percent

Houston, Texas

Median list price: $289,900

Doctors who can afford: 92.3 percent

First responders who can afford: 26.3 percent

Teachers who can afford: 25.5 percent

Restaurant workers who can afford: 1.4 percent

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Median list price: $179,900

Doctors who can afford: 96.8 percent

First responders who can afford: 63.3 percent

Teachers who can afford: 64.2 percent

Restaurant workers who can afford: 24.4 percent