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Trulia analyzed the percentage of an average middle-class income spent on housing, commuting and utilities. In Dayton, those basic expenses took up 30.9 percent of the average middle-class income.
This isn’t the first report to evaluate Dayton favorably in affordability. In March 2014, Dayton was ranked the fourth most affordable city in the nation for housing and other key costs of living by the National Association of Home Builders.
The city has a median price of $100,000 to $130,000 for a new home. To compare, the national median home price or mid-price was $205,000 at the end of 2014, according to an index of housing affordability in major U.S. cities.
Not only does housing tend to be cheaper here in the Miami Valley, more Dayton residents can afford to make monthly mortgage payments depending on their income levels than people living in other parts of the country, according to the home builders association.
Based on a median family income of $57,800 a year in the Dayton-area, 85.4 percent of all homes sold in Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Preble counties from October through December 2013 were considered affordable, said Rose Quint, assistant vice president for survey research for the builders trade group.