How much house can I afford on an $80,000 salary?

$80,000 is worth a page of its own because it is almost exactly the US median household income, roughly $80,600. So this is not just one salary — it is the answer to "what can a typical American household buy." About $125,500 to $159,000 as a single earner, $137,500 typical.

The median gap, stated plainly

The median existing home sold for about $431,400 in mid-2026. The median household earning $80,600 can afford roughly $146,000 filing jointly on this math.

That is not a shortfall you close by budgeting harder. The typical American household cannot buy the typical American home, and the gap is not marginal — it is more than double. Every conversation about affordability that starts anywhere else is avoiding this number.

Where the money goes

On $80,000 gross, take-home is $4,422 to $4,973 a month as a single filer. That is between 25% and 34% of your salary disappearing before you can spend any of it. Cap housing at 25% of what remains and the budget is $1,106 to $1,243 a month, all in.

What that buys, by state

The spread between the cheapest and most expensive row here is $33,500, on identical income. Property tax and insurance do that, and neither appears in the salary figure people compare themselves on.

Filing jointly changes the answer

A married couple filing jointly on the same $80,000 takes home $4,702 to $5,207 a month, against $4,422 to $4,973 for a single filer. That is worth roughly $8,500 of additional buying power — same household income, different tax treatment.

It is worth knowing because so much online advice quotes a single number for a salary without saying which filing status it assumes. Ours says.

The bank's version

A lender calculator produces $252,500 from this salary. Buy there and the real all-in cost is about $2,167 a month, or 46% of take-home. That is the difference between a house you own and a house that owns you.

Rate sensitivity

$19,500 separates the top and bottom of that table. Worth more than a year of saving, and available to anyone willing to collect three quotes in the same week.

Down payment

PMI at 10% down costs $46 a month here and cancels at 20% equity. Reaching 20% up front needs $31,100. For most median-income households the 10% route plus later cancellation is the better trade, but the table lets you decide with numbers rather than a rule of thumb.

Where debt starts to cost you

Below roughly $521 a month of other debt payments, your maximum price does not move at all, because the 25% housing cap binds before the total-debt cap. Above it, the effect is steep.

From $137,500 with no debts you hold that figure through $400 a month, then drop to $128,500 at $600, $105,000 at $800 and $82,000 at $1,000. If you are near the threshold, clearing one loan before applying is worth more than an extra year of saving.

The cash you need beyond the deposit

Closing costs add roughly 2–5% of the price. On a $137,500 purchase that is about $4,813 in cash on top of the down payment, and in high-property-tax states the escrow reserves alone can be a meaningful part of it. Keep a repair fund on the far side of closing too — a median-income household with no cushion is one water heater from a credit card balance.

What to take from this

If you earn around the median and feel like homeownership moved out of reach, you are reading the data correctly. The response that works is geographic flexibility, a lower rate through shopping and credit improvement, and buying meaningfully below your maximum so the house survives a bad year.

Run your own numbers →