Austin, TX – median household income $53K (census.gov says 48K), median price $230K.
San Diego, CA – median household income $60K (census.gov) / 67K (SANDAG), median price – I guess 300-350K by now?
Austin, TX – property tax rate 2.5% or so
San Diego, CA – property tax rate typically begins at 1.1% and goes down over time, thanks to prop 13
Austin, TX – average August high 96 F, average January low 40 F, hot and humid summers, 150 miles to the nearest beach
San Diego, CA – average August high 78 F, average January low 50 F, dry summers, 0-5 miles to the beach
What’s your point again?
[quote]Generally speaking, 50% of gross can be affordable on far upper end and/or if you ignore various costs associated with owning a place (which applies to numbers you provided in the past).[/quote]
It’s affordable if your median household is physically capable of surviving after making monthly housing payments. In practice, people won’t stretch their finances to the limit. How far are they are willing to go before packing up and moving to Austin, TX? Depends on how desirable the place is. San Diego is not the most desirable place in the United States, but it’s near the top. It’s behind Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Bay Area, and central California coast (Santa Barbara, Monterey & such).
