The salary you need to earn to buy a home right now in the 25 biggest US cities

Home prices across the United States have continued to rise, though at a steadier pace, with 91% of metros showing sales-price gains, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors.

Some of the most expensive housing markets, including San Jose and San Francisco, experienced slight home-price declines.

Homebuying affordability has decreased year-over-year, in part due to a gap in inventory.

Homebuyers in the San Francisco metro area must earn just under $200,000 a year to qualify for a mortgage with 20% down.

Middle-class homebuyers are still struggling.

Despite a slight drop in home prices in the most expensive housing markets, prices rose in 91% of 178 US metro areas in the second quarter of 2019, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said the price increases are in large part due to a continued lack of inventory at affordable price points. “Housing unaffordability will hinder sales irrespective of the local job market conditions,” Yun said. “This is evident in the very expensive markets as home prices are either topping off or slightly falling,”

California is a particularly difficult market, though the income needed to qualify for a mortgage in San Francisco and Los Angeles metro areas decreased in the second quarter of 2019.

Each quarter, NAR calculates qualifying income requirements for all US metropolitan-statistical areas assuming the buyer puts 25% of gross income toward the mortgage principal and interest. The calculations are done for 5%, 10%, and 20% down payments at a 3.9% interest rate. Metro areas are based on the US Census definitions.

Below, we've pulled the qualifying annual income amounts for the 25 largest metros by population, ranked from lowest to highest qualifying income with 20% down. Detroit and Pittsburgh are not included because of insufficient data.