Chicago 33rd Most Affordable Metro Area

A new study by Bizjournals.com, a group of business publications, ranked housing affordability in the nation’s metropolitan areas, with terse advice for those seeking a financially manageable place to live: ABC —-That is, Anywhere But California.

Bizjournals compared median home payments and household income levels in the nation’s 50 largest metros. The study was based on statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 American Community Survey, the most up-to-date source of federal data on housing costs. The study, to no one’s particular surprise, concluded that six of the seven most expensive places for housing are in the Golden State. Others on the list of America’s 10 most expensive home markets are New York City, Sacramento, Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Boston.

The study compared median home payments, property taxes and household income in 50 metros. Los Angeles was most expensive: The magazines estimated the monthly housing tab in L.A. amounts to about 75.5 percent of the median household income, with a median monthly mortgage-and-tax payment of $3,491.

Compare that to the most affordable metro, Oklahoma City. There, housing eats up just 19 percent of the median household income, the magazines said. The median monthly bill for mortgage and taxes is $667.

Chicago ranks as the 33rd most affordable metro, ahead of such cities as Portland OR (37th),Seattle, (40th), Boston (42nd), NYC (46th) and San Francisco (49th). In Chicago, where the aforementioned housing charges consume about 35 percent of our income, the study said. It pegged the median mortgage payment here at $1,358; add to that a median monthly property tax of $309, and your basic home-owning Chicagoan gets a monthly mortgage payment of $1,667.

The complete rankings are at www.bizjournals.com; go to “Online Edition” and click “Special Reports.”