Portland (The Oregonian)

“How much salary do you need to earn in order to afford the principal, interest, taxes and insurance payments on a median-priced home in your metro area?”

That’s the question recently posed by HSH.com. The mortgage- and consumer-loan information company then provided the answer: If you live in one of the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, you need a lot.

Using data from the National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac and the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, HSH.com figured out the annual before-tax salary needed to handle the principal for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, property taxes, interest and insurance, with a 20-percent down payment.

The cities requiring the highest salaries, along with the national average, are below.

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Photos: Associated Press

Providence, R.I.

$66,899.42

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Austin, TX

$67,440.63

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Riverside/San Bernardino, CA

$67,750.26

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Sacramento

$71,344.76

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Miami

$71,798.7

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Portland

$76,883.89

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Denver

$79,458.76

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Washington, DC

$84,503.35

Seattle

$93,418.01

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Boston

$97,465.24

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New York

$99,151.22

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Los Angeles

$115,068.77

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San Diego

$116,119.96

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San Francisco

$171,330.88

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San Jose

$216,181.25

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National average

$55, 390.5

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More

To find out more about how HSH.com reached its conclusions, go to the company's website.