Analysis: Atlanta cracks top 10 among affordable cities for housing

Like the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the Atlanta region continues to stand out as a rapidly growing Sun Belt metro that still clings to relative housing affordability, according to a new nationwide analysis.

Metro Atlanta ranks as the No. 9 most affordable city for housing in the U.S. when local home prices are compared with median household incomes.

That’s according to a study by real estate data company Clever that found, on a less upbeat note, rising home prices are outpacing wage growth in all major U.S. metros in 2026.

According to Clever, metro Atlanta’s median home price now stands at $372,000 and median household income at $92,344.

That equates to a price-to-income ratio of 4.03. Which puts metro Atlanta between Louisville and Minneapolis, respectively, on the affordability meter, per the study.

The bad news: Not one of the 50 most populous metros in the country right now counts a home-price-to-income ratio at or below 2.6. That's the ratio financial experts typically recommend as the maximum for housing to be considered affordable, according to Clever.

As with Dallas, Atlanta’s relatively non-dense urban terrain has worked in its favor so far, analysts found. (Apologies, “We full” contingent.)

“Both [metros] benefit from fewer land-use restrictions and ample room to build, which has helped housing supply keep pace with demand, at least for now,” reads a summary.

Courtesy of Clever

Seven of the 10 top metros in Clever’s ranking are in the Midwest or Rust Belt, with Pittsburgh claiming top ratio honors. Four of the least affordable U.S. cities for housing, meanwhile, are in California, where San Jose (11.65 ratio) lands at the bottom, per Clever.

An interesting/distressing tidbit from the study makes total sense now: Since 1980, per analysts, the median U.S. home price has spiked by a whopping 551 percent, but median household incomes (up 373 percent) haven’t climbed at nearly the same pace.

If those two metrics would have been in lockstep over the past 45 years, the average household income would be north of $115,000 right now, per Clever.

Which could be why, in our recent home affordability reader poll, the most popular response by far was: “In Atlanta, it’s getting harder and harder to get ahead.”

Another national study released last month shows that a home-buying budget of $400,000 (roughly the national median home sale price right now) doesn’t buy nearly what it used to in the City of Atlanta, and gets less now than larger markets such as Chicago and Houston.

Courtesy of Clever