This Is the Most Affordable U.S. City to Live Comfortably—and Here’s Exactly How Much You Need to Earn

If everything feels more expensive to you now, know that you’re not alone and you’re not imagining things. Everyday items really are way pricier than they used to be, and wages just don’t feel like they’re keeping up. However, there are a few places around the nation that still offer a financially accessible way of life, and GOBankingRates has identified the most affordable one of all. 

On Wednesday, GOBankingRates revealed how much money people need to earn to live comfortably in America’s 50 largest cities.

To figure this out, the team first identified the 100 largest U.S. cities, ranking them by their total population, along with the household median income for each city, and parsed out the top 50. It then calculated those cities’ average mortgage using the average single-family home value, along with the average rental cost, and the average expenditure cost. “Using the 50/30/20 finance rule, the total cost of living was doubled to determine the income needed to live comfortably for a homeowner and renter,” it added. 

Now, we won’t lie to you: some information in the report is pretty bleak. 

“Homeowners in 10 of the nation’s largest cities need to earn at least $191,000 annually to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle,” the website explained in the findings. “While nine of these cities are based on the West Coast and the Hawaiian Islands—not unusual, given each region’s high cost of living—Americans might not be able to guess which East Coast city requires an income of more than $217,000 to live comfortably.”

Irvine, California, ranked first as the spot where you need the highest income to live comfortably. For homeowners, GOBankingRates says you need $326,645 annually, and for renters, it’s $130,943 a year. And right now, it added, the Southern California city’s median household income is only $129,647, meaning you need more than double the median income to live comfortably as a homeowner. 

In fact, the findings stated that California swept the top 50 spots, with 15 cities where homeowners and renters need to earn six figures for a comfortable lifestyle, including Fremont at No. 2, San Jose at No. 3, San Francisco at No. 4, San Diego at No. 6, and Los Angeles at No. 8.

The findings added that “none of the top 50 cities had a median household income higher than the comfortable income needed for homeowners.” 

Still, there were some outliers that offer a much more comfortable lifestyle, including spots like Cleveland, Ohio, which ranked as the most affordable on the list. Here, you need just $60,000 a year in income to live comfortably as a homeowner. It’s also a spot that ranks rather highly on AreaVibes, nabbing an impressive 72 Livability Score, getting high marks for its amenities, housing, commute, and health care access.

Neighboring Toledo, Ohio ranked as the second-most affordable, where you need just a $62,141 annual income to live comfortably as a homeowner. As of 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the real median household income in the United States is $80,610. Just 14 cities on GOBankingRates’ list made that cutoff for living comfortably as a homeowner.

See the full report, and if your city made the cut at gobankingrates.com.