5 East Coast Cities With Affordable Housing — and the Richest ZIP Codes in Each
Written by
Daria Uhlig
Edited by
Chris Cluff
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“Cheap” is a subjective measure if home price is the only cost you look at. Affordability, on the other hand, takes into account home prices relative to the overall cost of living. In a recent roundup of the most affordable places to buy a home, Zillow listed the metropolitan areas where at least half of the active real estate listings are priced low enough that a mortgage payment would fall within 30% of a typical household budget for that area.
But what’s affordable to the typical household might actually be cheap for households with higher incomes. GOBankingRates researched the richest areas in East Coast locations that made Zillow’s list of most affordable cities to find out where people have the best chance of finding a home at a truly cheap price — relatively speaking, of course. They’re presented below, along with the latest average home values from Zillow and ZIP code data from ZIP Atlas. Let’s take a look at these real estate offerings that offer value at prices that make sense.
Pittsburgh
- Average home value: $223,838
- Median household income in richest ZIP codes:
- 15241: $144,448
- 15228: $125,786
- 15238: $124,394
Assuming a 20% down payment and 6.5% mortgage rate, a Buffalo household with a median income of $144,448 would devote just 9.4% of their income to the mortgage on an average-priced home.
In fact, they could pay the mortgage three times over and still be within “affordable” range.
Buffalo, New York
- Average home value: $232,812
- Median household income in richest ZIP codes:
- 14221: $96,266
- 14223: $81,884
- 14222: $79,343
If you’re a resident in the 14221 ZIP code of Buffalo, your monthly payment on a $232,812 house would be just 15% of your monthly income. You could actually afford two of those payments — one for your own home, and one for an investment property.
Baltimore
- Average home value: $181,968
- Median household income in richest ZIP codes:
- 21210: $114,409
- 21230: $95,470
- 21212: $94,014
The median household income in Baltimore’s wealthiest ZIP code isn’t that much less than the city’s average home value. You’d need just 9.65% of your monthly income to pay the mortgage. Or 28.95% for a home for yourself plus two investment properties.
Birmingham, Alabama
- Average home value: $124,277
- Median household income in richest ZIP codes:
- 35223: $151,550
- 35213: $137,879
- 35226: $121,975
Birmingham’s average home value is actually less than the median income in the city’s richest ZIP code. Whereas the average home price-to-income ratio is 3.7 in Alabama, according to Visual Capitalist, for the median-earning 35223 resident purchasing an average-priced home, it would be just 0.82.
Philadelphia
- Average home value: $218,849
- Median household income in richest ZIP codes:
- 19108: $250,001
- 12106: 128,173
- 19102: $108,350
Philadelphia is another city where the median income in the wealthiest ZIP code is more than the city’s average home price. Visual Capitalist pegs Pennsylvania’s price-to-income ratio at 3.6%. If you’re a median earner in 19108, your ratio would be 0.88. You’d also be in a select group. Just 39 people live in that ZIP code, according to 2020 Decennial Census data, the most recent available for ZIP codes. That would make you 0.2 percenter among Philadelphians.
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