Pittsburgh: 1 of 3 U.S. Cities to Pass Affordability Test

The days that noted the traditional rule that housing shouldn’t exceed 30% of a household’s gross monthly income may be long gone, according to a new report by Realtor.com. 

Out of the 50 largest U.S. metros studied, only three passed the 30% rule, offering median-income earners the ability to purchase a home without surpassing that recommended amount. Not surprising based on many other studies, Pittsburgh topped the list, followed by Detroit and St. Louis. 

In May, the median list price of a home in Pittsburgh was $249,000. Assuming a 20% down payment and a typical 30-year fixed mortgage rate of 6.82%, that makes an annual mortgage payment (plus tax and insurance) of $19,970. The median household income in Pittsburgh for 2025 is $72,935, meaning housing accounts for about 27.4% of income. 

In comparison to Detroit (29.8%) and St. Louis (30.0%), Pittsburgh comes out on top as the most affordable metro. To add, the national share of income towards housing is 44.6%, with a median list price of $440,000 and a median household income of $78,770. 

“Pittsburgh offers not only economical investment opportunities but a high overall value in the properties available,” says Michelle Senko, president of the Realtors® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh. “It is surrounded by a market where the cost of living and doing business is quite modest as well, and I believe this is why Pittsburgh stays consistently attractive and will remain economically resilient.” 

Realtor.com’s report makes several suggestions to make homeownership more feasible for the typical household. Those include housing costs, lower home prices, higher income and lower mortgage rates.  

The report notes, “Housing costs can be improved with either lower mortgage rates or lower home prices. Sustained low mortgage rates would be the result of lower inflation and market confidence in the economy’s stability, among other things. We do not expect mortgage rates to fall significantly in the near term, and recent economic uncertainty makes it harder to predict the mortgage rate path.”  

It concludes, “The final substantial contributor to high housing costs is high home prices. Home prices continue to climb in markets that are in demand but have scarce home supply. However, home prices have softened in many well-supplied markets, especially markets that have seen significant new-construction activity over the past five-plus years. Encouraging new-home supply and new-home construction, especially at affordable price ranges, can help relieve price pressure in tight housing markets. High-priced Northeast markets face high demand and low construction, which has resulted in a growing home supply gap. To remedy this challenge and provide hope to prospective buyers in the country’s most expensive markets, supply needs to increase to better match demand.”