The median home price is $818k [0]. That works out to about $3,400/month. To afford that you need to make $130k [1]. That is an 89th percentile wage locally [2]

The median home price is $818k [0]. That works out to about $3,400/month. To afford that you need to make $130k [1]. That is an 89th percentile wage locally [2]. And that's a single family home. In the cities for that price we're probably talking about a condo with a $500-$1000 monthly HOA. The vast majority of the value in these homes is appreciation. Having more in appreciated asset value than 90% of your neighbors could ever catch up to through wages is exactly what defines the moneyed, flying-over-everything class. I have a home in California, btw. I was able to stretch for a 1BR condo by earning half a million a year. That is definitely not what most other homeowners did, and it's not as if the people with 2BR and 3BR have even better salaries. They have wealth. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/realestate/california-housing-prices.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/realestate/california-hou... [1] https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/how-much-house-can-i-afford/calculate-affordability https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/how-much-house-can-i-af... [2] https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-by-state-calculator/ https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-by-state-calculator/