Dayton tops national list of cities where teachers, cops and others can most afford to live

Analysts from Trulia, the online residential real estate website, examined housing prices in nearly 100 major U.S. metro areas as well as the corresponding incomes of teachers, first responders, restaurant workers and doctors to see whether they could afford to purchase a home where they serve.

Restaurant workers, first responders and teachers are all but priced out of some expensive markets such as San Jose, Calif., and nearby San Francisco, where the median home list price comes in at more than $1.24 million. Only about 42 percent of doctors can afford a mortgage in San Francisco on one income.

By comparison, almost 99.6 percent of doctors can afford to purchase a home in the Dayton region, followed by 83.3 percent of teachers, 75 percent of first responders and 32.4 percent of restaurant workers.

Nationally, the typical American worker makes $37,040 annually, while the typical American house costs a median of $254,900, according to the study.

The report defined affordability as a monthly housing payment taking up no more than 31 percent of one’s paycheck. Affordability increases with the addition of a second household income.

Here’s a look at Dayton’s affordability compared to Chicago, which falls about in the middle, and San Francisco on the other end of the nation’s housing affordability spectrum.