People moving to New York City should come with a dream, a good pair of walking shoes—and, depending on where they plan to live, a million-dollar salary.
Six neighborhoods in the city require homebuyers to earn seven figures to even consider making an offer on a tony address, according to new research compiled by Realtor.com®.
The most expensive neighborhood in the five boroughs is Nolita, where the median home costs an eye-watering $5,351,875.
Any aspiring or current New Yorker who wants to live in the four-block-wide Manhattan neighborhood—which is now the center of trendy boutiques and chic restaurants—needs to earn $1,433,781 a year to afford a home there.
“The six most expensive ZIP codes in the NYC metro area all require a minimum household income of more than $1 million to remain within affordability recommendations,” says Realtor.com® senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. “These areas attract luxury buyers with median listing prices of $4 million or more.”
To size up the required income needed to buy a home in various neighborhoods in this metro, Realtor.com did a deep dive on localized listing prices, then presumed, as a benchmark, that homebuyers would make a 13.6% down payment, spend 30% of their income on housing, and face a 6.95% mortgage rate along with 1.17% in taxes and insurance.
(To check median home prices and required income to purchase in different New York City neighborhoods, hover your cursor over an area on the map below.)
For three of the neighborhoods that require a 1% salary to call it home, look below 14th Street to areas dominated by acronyms—think Tribeca, NoHo, and SoHo. Other pricey ZIP codes include Manhattan’s Flatiron District and Loveladies Beach Haven, NJ, in the greater tristate area.
Above 14th Street, the median homes in both the Upper East and West Sides of Manhattan command list prices north of $1,800,000. Homeowners wishing to buy a home on either side of Central Park need to earn $535,202 and $484,837, respectively, to land a footprint in the city.
Yet what’s aptly known as “Money Making Manhattan” isn’t quite as pricey as it has been in the past.
In the second quarter of 2024, the median real estate sales price in Manhattan fell 1.5% to $1.2 million, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel.
As prices fall and the number of homes for sale rises, the report suggests that Manhattan might even be turning into a buyer’s market.
How high are home prices outside of Manhattan?
Manhattan doesn’t hold a monopoly on expensive real estate in New York City. Brooklyn isn’t so budget-friendly, either.
Anyone looking to buy a place in Carroll Gardens needs to earn $718,983 a year, while Cobble Hill demands a yearly salary of $698,723. The salary needed in Boerum Hill is close behind, at $689,280.
The median list prices for homes in these leafy areas known for brownstones and families range from $2,683,750 in Carroll Gardens to $2,572,875 in Boerum Hill.
For comparison, the median home list price in the United States was $442,500 in May.
“The least affordable neighborhoods are concentrated in Manhattan and Brooklyn, along with a few beachfront neighborhoods in New York and New Jersey,” says Jones. “Buyers in these areas pay a premium to be in the heart of the city or in an otherwise beautiful locale.”
Yet some of these home shoppers might not need to prove their annual salary to a loan officer to secure a mortgage.
“It is important to note that buyers in these pricey neighborhoods are likely to be high earners with significant cash on hand, and therefore may not choose to take out a mortgage at today’s rate,” says Jones.
The Big Apple’s relative bargains
If you haven’t quite cracked the highest echelon of earners, don’t worry. While New York City is an expensive place to call home overall, there are less expensive neighborhoods to be found in the metro and surrounding environs.
It’s no secret that the farther you get from the downtown epicenter of Manhattan, the less you’ll have to pay for a home—and the further a five- or six-figure salary stretches.
“The most affordable neighborhoods in the NYC metro are mostly in the Bronx and Yonkers,” says Jones. “Homes in these areas are priced below the national median and below the metro area’s median.”
For homebuyers who want to stick to the city, Inwood offers the most bang for the buck. Homes in the tip of Manhattan cost a median of $471,875 and can be had on a yearly salary of $126,417.
In Brooklyn, shoppers on a budget can nab a home close to the beach—and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs—in Coney Island, where the median list price is $417,000 and the minimum required income is $111,715.
Up-and-coming Queens neighborhoods like Jackson Heights have a median list price of $367,472, which means buyers must earn $98,447 to live in an apartment or house there.
In the Bronx enclave of Riverdale, which hugs the Hudson River, potential homeowners need to make $98,186 to buy a median-priced home at $366,500. Over in the Lawrence Park West area of Yonkers, near the elite Sarah Lawrence College, the median-priced home costs $281,875, meaning buyers need to bring home $75,515 a year.
So, what’s the most affordable neighborhood in New York City?
Look to the South Bronx neighborhood of Highbridge, known for the infamous “Joker” stairs from the film starring Joaquin Phoenix. The area, so-called for the tall, arched bridge that spans the East River and connects the Bronx to Harlem, has a median list price of $149,936, meaning buyers can make an offer if they make $40,168 a year.
“Purchasing a home may be feasible in many of these neighborhoods as the required income to purchase is slightly above or below the national median household income,” explains Jones.
Or you can rent
For those who need a bedroom in the city that never sleeps but can’t afford to buy, there’s always the vibrant—and competitive—New York rental market.
The median rent for a studio to two-bedroom apartment in the metro as of May 2024 is $2,857, according to Realtor.com data.
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