10 metros where a home costs about $1,000/month Updated on: Mar 01, 2022

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Extracted from our homebuying salary calculations that cover the 50 largest metropolitan areas, here's a group of ten areas around the country where you can own a home for about $1,000 a month -- and sometimes even if you can only make a 10 percent down payment for your purchase, too. Our calculations factor the principal and interest payments for a median-priced existing home in the fourth quarter of 2021, and we take into account taxes and insurance costs as well. Although the base calculation assumes a 20 percent down payment, each panel also shows costs with just a 10 percent down purchase, where we also include the cost for PMI in our tally.

Fast-rising home prices in most areas mean fewer metros at the $1,000 per month level, but we've included the ten least costly in this group. Given the seasonality of home prices, we hoped to see a few more metros closer to the $1K mark this quarter, but considerable home price inflation will likely mean we'll need to reset the dollar benchmark for this series in 2022.

None of these lower-cost places to live to your liking? A home in New Orleans is available for around or just over $1,200 per month, and if you can climb a little higher up the monthly payment ladder, places such as Buffalo, NY, Virginia Beach VA or even New Orleans, LA open up to you, too, so there may be other low-cost choices if you're looking to locate or relocate to an area with lower housing costs.

Not surprisingly, the lower cost metro areas feature smaller cities, with only the St. Louis and Detroit metro area cracking the top 20 in terms of population. Also, it's important to remember that as we use the median home price in our calculation that half of the homes sold in each market in the fourth quarter of 2021 sold for less than this price. This means that even in areas that didn't make our list of 10, there could still be affordable options for lower-cost homeownership in other areas.

If you're looking for help with a down payment and closing costs, check to see if you qualify for a state-backed homebuyer assistance program, or consider an FHA loan, too.

Pittsburgh
$951.43/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $190,000

Quarterly change: -5.00 percent
Year-over-year change: +9.51 percent

Monthly Payment $951.43

Salary $40,775.59

Quarterly change: -$707.55
Year-over-year change: +9.28 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Pittsburgh metro area would need an annual income of $46,640.13, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,088.27 per month.

Oklahoma City
$1,000.64/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $201,500

Quarterly change: +1.51 percent
Year-over-year change: +11.26 percent

Monthly Payment $1,000.64

Salary $42,884.40

Quarterly change: +$1,226.35
Year-over-year change: +10.54 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Oklahoma City metro area would need an annual income of $49,103.90, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,145.76 per month.

Cleveland
$1,004.94/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $195,700

Quarterly change: -8.08 percent
Year-over-year change: +4.60 percent

Monthly Payment $1,004.94

Salary $43,068.96

Quarterly change: -$1,731.28
Year-over-year change: +5.80 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Cleveland metro area would need an annual income of $49,109.44, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,145.89 per month.

Louisville
$1,065.57/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $242,100

Quarterly change: -1.38 percent
Year-over-year change: +10.40 percent

Monthly Payment $1,065.57

Salary $45,667.47

Quarterly change: +$455.76
Year-over-year change: +11.38 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Louisville metro area would need an annual income of $53,140.13, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,239.94 per month.

St. Louis
$1,082.82/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $220,700

Quarterly change: -6.36 percent
Year-over-year change: +4.80 percent

Monthly Payment $1,082.82

Salary $46,406.45

Quarterly change: -$1,313.57
Year-over-year change: +6.23 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the St. Louis metro area would need an annual income of $53,218.57, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,241.77 per month.

Cincinnati
Salary $1,126.68/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $244,500

Quarterly change: -3.55 percent
Year-over-year change: +13.19 percent

Monthly Payment $1,126.68

Salary $48,286.30

Quarterly change: -$348.46
Year-over-year change: +12.85 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Cincinnati metro area would need an annual income of $55,833.04, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,302.77 per month.

Memphis
$1,145.58/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $260,700

Quarterly change: +2.64 percent
Year-over-year change: +13.79 percent

Monthly Payment $1,145.58

Salary $49,096.42

Quarterly change: +$1,996.16
Year-over-year change: +14.02 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Memphis metro area would need an annual income of $57,143.18, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,333.34 per month.

Indianapolis
$1,148.66/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $269,100

Quarterly change: +0.04 percent
Year-over-year change: +15.79 percent

Monthly Payment $1,148.66

Salary $49,228.38

Quarterly change: +$1,070.19
Year-over-year change: +16.07 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Indianapolis metro area would need an annual income of $57,534.42, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,342.47 per month.

Birmingham
Salary $1,153.38/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $276,200

Quarterly change: +0.95 percent
Year-over-year change: +12.05 percent

Monthly Payment $1,153.38

Salary $49,430.66

Quarterly change: +$1,461.27
Year-over-year change: +13.43 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Birmingham metro area would need an annual income of $57,955.84, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,352.30 per month.

Detroit
Salary $1,154.38/month

Mortgage Rate 3.25%

Quarterly change: +0.21 percent

Home price $240,800

Quarterly change: -7.21 percent
Year-over-year change: +6.31 percent

Monthly Payment $1,154.38

Salary $49,473.50

Quarterly change: -$1,772.29
Year-over-year change: +7.47 percent

With a 10% down payment, homebuyers in the Detroit metro area would need an annual income of $56,906.03, as the PITI (and mortgage insurance) payment would rise to $1,327.81 per month.

Pittsburgh

To compile these results, HSH.com calculates the annual before-tax income required to cover the mortgage's principal, interest, property tax and homeowner's insurance payment. We use standard 28 percent "front-end" debt ratios and a 20 percent down payment subtracted from the median-home-price data to arrive at our figures. Loans with less than a 20 percent down payment will incur mortgage insurance, which would in turn increase the required salary and require Private Mortgage Insurance. Results using smaller down payments and including PMI costs are provided on each market's slide.

We utilized the National Association of Realtors 2021 fourth-quarter data for median home prices. For mortgage data, we create a quarterly average of 30-year fixed mortgage rates from survey data published by Freddie Mac (conforming loans).

The average mortgage rate information we used was for purchase-money mortgages made to borrowers with good to excellent credit.

Into our calculations, we incorporate metropolitan-area average property tax information using data made available from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). We use 2015-2019 ACS 5-year estimates, which are the latest available data.

For homeowner's insurance costs, we use the latest available data for statewide average homeowner insurance premium costs from the Insurance Information Institute (http://www.iii.org), whose mission is to improve public understanding of insurance.

Note: Property taxes and insurance costs are specific to an individual property itself and will be different for any single property in which you may have an interest. Also, if other personal debts exceed 8 percent of one's given monthly gross income, this may increase the salary needed to qualify.

PMI costs used in our calculations are for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. For conforming loan amounts, these are costs for FICO scores of greater than 740 but less than 759. You can calculate mortgage insurance costs for other credit scores, down payment amounts and mortgage types using HSH.com's PMI Cost Calculator.

Data for the Pittsburgh metro area was provided by RealSTATs, a locally owned and operated real estate information company.