This Central Valley county is one of least affordable spots in US to own a home, study says
San Joaquin County is one of the top 10 least affordable places in the United States to own a home, according to personal finance website MoneyGeek.
Three other California counties made MoneyGeek’s list— including Placer County, which came in first place.
Solano and Contra Costa counties also earned rankings for least affordable housing.
To determine the U.S. counties that have become the least affordable for home owners, MoneyGeek analyzed changes in homeownership costs, home price appreciation and median incomes from 2021 to 2023.
Here’s where San Joaquin County fell on the list, and how the top 10 stacked up.
Top 10 least affordable places to own a home in United States
San Joaquin County ranked fourth on the list of places in the United States that have recently become expensive to own a house, according to MoneyGeek.
The Central Valley county has a home appreciation rate of 29.7% in the past two years. It has a median home price of $553,133 and a monthly home ownership cost of 56% of the county’s median income.
Residents of San Joaquin County make a median income of $86,056.
According to MoneyGeek, the top 10 counties in the United States with the least affordable housing are:
Placer County, California
Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Washoe County, Nevada
San Joaquin County, California
Clackamas County, Oregon
Solano County, California
Lane County, Oregon
Contra Costa County, California
Washington County, Oregon
Essex County, Massachusetts
Sacramento County ranked 11th on MoneyGeek’s list, with a home price appreciation of 28.3%, a median home price of $550,422. Monthly home ownership costs were 56.6% of the county’s median income of $84,211.
Riverside, Merced and Fresno counties also made the list at No. 18, No. 19 and No. 21, respectively.
How did MoneyGeek come up with rankings?
To come up with its rankings, MoneyGeek used data on home prices, fair market rents and median mortgage payments from the National Association of Realtors, as well as local property tax rates from SmartAsset. It also looked at U.S. Census data on population growth and median earnings.
An unaffordable county had to meet these criteria:
Population of more than 250,000 people
Population growth above the country’s average
A 2021 income to mortgage expenses ratio less than 60%
House price appreciation since 2021 greater than 25%
Monthly home ownership cost was more than 50% of the county’s median income
MoneyGeek used price appreciation, the ratio of home ownership costs to rent and home ownership costs as a percentage of the median income to analyze its list.
The Sum’s Cortlynn Stark contributed to this story.
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