10 ZIP Codes Where Renters Can Afford To Buy a Home — And 10 Where They Can’t

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You don’t need to dig too deep into the past to get an idea of how much home prices have skyrocketed in the United States.

Here’s a look at the 10 most and least affordable ZIP codes for renters to buy a home, based on mortgage-to-income ratio.

Real Estate Is Changing Fast for Both Renters and Buyers

Since the beginning of the century, the median sales price of homes sold has risen more than 150%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This decade alone, the median second-quarter price climbed from $317,100 in 2020 to $410,800 in 2025 — a gain of roughly 30%.

The average monthly mortgage payment was $2,329 as of September 2025, according to Rocket Mortgage — up 21% from two years earlier. Meanwhile, RentCafe estimates that average rents in the U.S. are $1,740 a month as of mid-December.

The cost of purchasing a home has become so prohibitive that the median age of first-time buyers rose to 40-years-old in 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors. It was the oldest age ever recorded and well above the median of 33 only five years earlier.

With home prices continuing to rise, where can renters afford to buy a home — and where can they not afford it?

MovingPlace, an online moving solutions platform, recently conducted an analysis of the 150 most populous ZIP codes in the U.S. to determine which are the most affordable for renters to buy and move into their own homes and which aren’t.

The analysis compared the average monthly mortgage payment per ZIP code to the average renter’s income to calculate the mortgage-to-income ratio. ZIP codes with a lower mortgage-to-income ratio were deemed the most affordable for renters to buy and move into their own homes.

How Much House Does $300K, $400K and $500K Buy You in Every State?

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Most Affordable Zip Codes

30349 — Atlanta, Georgia

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 25.1%
• Median home value: $257,899
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,460

75217 — Dallas, Texas

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 25.3%
• Median home value: $191,313
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,324

60617 — Chicago, Illinois

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 26.2%
• Median home value: $170,358
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,230

37042 — Clarksville, Tennessee

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 29.6%
• Median home value: $294,625
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,485

60629 — Chicago, Illinois

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 30.3%
• Median home value: $264,371
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,420

73099 — Yukon, Oklahoma

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 31.4%
• Median home value: $271,536
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,549

60623 — Chicago, Illinois

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 31.6%
• Median home value: $206,908
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,480

78577 — Pharr, Texas

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 34.1%
• Median home value: $161,509
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,128

27610 — Raleigh, North Carolina

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 34.5%
• Median home value: $322,939
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,900

28269 — Charlotte, North Carolina

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 36.0%
• Median home value: $359,495
• Typical mortgage payment: $1,871

Least Affordable Zip Codes

11204 — New, New York (Brooklyn)

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 135.0%
• Median home value: $1,198,458
• Typical mortgage payment: $7,617

10453 — New York, New York (Bronx)

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 117.4%
• Median home value: $587,327
• Typical mortgage payment: $3,767

98052 — Redmond, Washington

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 100.3%
• Median home value: $1,324,787
• Typical mortgage payment: $7,148

10025 — New York, New York (Manhattan)

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 93.7%
• Median home value: $1,106,176
• Typical mortgage payment: $7,036

11385 — New York, New York (Queens)

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 92.7%
• Median home value: $864,244
• Typical mortgage payment: $5,511

98012 — Bothell, Washington

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 91.3%
• Median home value: $989,943
• Typical mortgage payment: $5,357

91709 — Chino Hills, California

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 90.2%
• Median home value: $975,400
• Typical mortgage payment: $4,690

10314 — New York, New York (Staten Island)

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 82.4%
• Median home value: $694,695
• Typical mortgage payment: $4,443

60647 — Chicago, Illinois

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 79.0%
• Median home value: $532,088
• Typical mortgage payment: $3,702

90250 — Hawthorne, California

• Mortgage-to-income ratio: 72.1%
• Median home value: $857,728
• Typical mortgage payment: $4,132

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