Efficient Dollar

Housing Affordability Map: Where Can You Afford to Buy a Home?

See monthly housing costs for every U.S. ZIP code—mortgage, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance combined. Enter your income and choose between starter homes, typical homes, or move-up homes to find affordable places to buy.

How to read this map

The map colors each ZIP code by cost burden—what percentage of your gross income would go toward all housing costs if you bought a home there. The standard lender guideline is 28% of income for mortgage, taxes, and insurance (PITI). Since this map also includes maintenance (~1% of home value annually), the equivalent threshold shifts to about 33%.

  • Green areas have all-in monthly costs well below the 33% guideline—comfortably affordable at your income level.
  • Yellow areas are near or above the guideline—possible but may require trade-offs in your budget.
  • Orange/red areas exceed the guideline significantly. Lenders may hesitate to approve loans here without additional income or a larger down payment.
  • Gray areas don't have enough data (typically rural ZIPs without Zillow home value estimates).

Find affordable places to buy a home

Instead of guessing from a list of cities, this map lets you visually explore home affordability by ZIP code across the entire country. It defaults to the U.S. median household income ($81,604) so you can compare affordability across regions on a level playing field. Enter your own income and every ZIP code recolors instantly to show whether housing there fits your budget. Green areas are comfortably affordable. Red areas would stretch you well beyond the recommended 33% cost burden guideline.

Unlike a mortgage affordability calculator—which gives you a single budget number—this map shows you where that budget is viable geographically. You can zoom into a metro area, compare suburbs to city centers, and discover affordable pockets you might not have considered.

Starter home costs by ZIP code

Not everyone is shopping for the median home. First-time home buyers and budget-conscious buyers are often looking at starter homes—the lower end of a local market. Use the Entry-Level tier to see starter home prices and monthly costs by ZIP code. This tier covers the 5th–35th percentile of home values in each area, based on Zillow's bottom-tier Home Value Index.

On the other end, the Move-Up tier shows the 65th–95th percentile—useful if you're looking to upgrade or buy into a more competitive segment of the market. Switching tiers instantly recolors the map, so you can see how affordability shifts dramatically between price ranges in the same area.

What's included in monthly cost

Each ZIP's monthly cost includes four components. Costs are estimated from Zillow's Home Value Index for the selected tier—Entry-Level (5th–35th percentile of the local market), Typical (35th–65th percentile, the default), or Move-Up (65th–95th percentile):

  • Mortgage payment: Principal and interest on a 30-year fixed-rate loan at 6.5% with 20% down.
  • Property tax: Based on county-level effective tax rates from the Census Bureau, with state-level fallback where county data isn't available.
  • Homeowners insurance: Based on state average premiums, scaled proportionally to home value (baseline: $300K dwelling coverage).
  • Maintenance: Estimated at 1% of home value annually—a common rule of thumb for upkeep, repairs, and replacements.

Assumptions

To keep the map useful as a comparison tool, we use consistent assumptions across all ZIPs:

  • 6.5% mortgage rate—close to prevailing 30-year fixed rates. Your actual rate may vary based on credit score, loan type, and market conditions.
  • 20% down payment—avoids PMI (private mortgage insurance). If you put less down, actual costs would be higher.
  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage—the most common loan term in the U.S.
  • County-level property tax rates from Census ACS, with state averages as fallback for unmatched counties.
  • State-level insurance premiums from MoneyGeek, scaled to home value. Actual premiums vary by zip, coverage, deductible, and claims history.

Data sources

  • Home values: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)—a smoothed, seasonally-adjusted measure of home values by ZIP code, available for entry-level (5th–35th percentile), typical (35th–65th), and move-up (65th–95th) tiers.
  • Property tax rates: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates—county-level effective rates (median taxes paid / median home value).
  • Insurance costs: MoneyGeek state-level average annual premiums for standard HO-3 policies with $300K dwelling coverage.
  • Default income: U.S. Census Bureau—national median household income ($81,604).

Frequently asked questions

Why 6.5% and 20% down?

These are representative assumptions for a conventional loan without PMI. The 6.5% rate reflects current market conditions—if rates change, actual costs would differ. The 20% down payment avoids private mortgage insurance, which would add to monthly costs. Every ZIP uses the same assumptions so you can compare areas apples-to-apples.

Why does the map use national median income instead of local?

Using the same income for every ZIP lets you compare affordability across the country on a level playing field. If we used local median income, most areas would look similar because local incomes and home prices are correlated. The national median answers “where can a typical American income afford to buy?” which is the more useful question for anyone considering a move. If you want to see affordability for your specific income, enter it above and the entire map recolors instantly. If you're interested in whether locals can afford housing in their own area, our Local Housing Affordability Map uses Census income distributions for each ZIP code to show what percentage of local households can afford to buy there.

What's not included?

This estimate doesn't include HOA fees, PMI (if less than 20% down), utilities, or flood/earthquake insurance. These vary too much by specific property to estimate at the ZIP level. You can use the home tier selector to switch between entry-level, typical, and move-up price ranges, but actual homes you look at may still be above or below these estimates.

Why do some ZIP codes show gray?

Gray means we don't have a Zillow Home Value Index for that ZIP. This is common in rural areas with low transaction volume where Zillow can't produce a reliable estimate.

What does the 33% guideline mean?

Most lenders use 28% of gross monthly income as the maximum for PITI (mortgage principal, interest, taxes, and insurance)—the “front-end ratio.” This map includes maintenance costs (~1% of home value annually) on top of PITI, which adds roughly 3–5 percentage points. So 33% on this map is equivalent to the lender's 28% for PITI alone. Spending above this doesn't mean you can't get a loan, but it signals that housing is taking a large share of your budget.

How is this different from a mortgage affordability calculator?

A mortgage affordability calculator tells you how much house you can afford based on your income and debts—a single dollar amount. This map shows you where you can afford to buy by displaying the actual monthly housing cost for every ZIP code. Instead of getting a budget number and then searching for homes in that range, you can visually explore which areas across the country fit your budget.

Can I use this to find affordable places to move?

Yes. Enter your income, select a home tier (starter home, typical, or move-up), and look for green areas on the map. These are ZIP codes where housing costs would be comfortably within the recommended 33% guideline. You can zoom into specific regions, compare metro areas side by side, and click on any ZIP code for a full cost breakdown.

What are the home tier options?

The map offers three tiers based on Zillow's Home Value Index: Entry-Level (5th–35th percentile, also called starter homes), Typical (35th–65th percentile, the default), and Move-Up (65th–95th percentile). Each tier uses the same cost formula—only the home value changes. Entry-level data is available for about 86% of ZIPs, and move-up data covers about 90%.

How often is the data updated?

Housing data (Zillow ZHVI) is updated monthly. Property tax and insurance data are updated annually. We rebuild this map periodically to incorporate the latest available data.