It Takes More Than 2 Workweeks to Pay for Mortgage in LA

How long does it take to work to pay the monthly mortgage in Los Angeles? About 112 hours, or about two and a half weeks, the longest period of any metropolitan area tracked by cost information site Howmuch.net.

You had to work longer — and do a lot of California dreaming — to pay the mortgage at other Golden State metro areas, according to Howmuch.net. Of the top 10 areas where you had to work the most to pay the mortgage, eight were in California — San Francisco (107 hours), Oakland (83 hours), Long Beach (78 hours), San Diego (77 hours), Santa Ana (74 hours), San Jose (74 hours) and Irvine (73 hours).

Two east coast locations made the list — Miami, second at 109 hours, and Boston, fourth at 95 hours. New York City was 31st on the list. People need to work 50 hours to afford to pay the mortgage in the Big Apple.

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Howmuch.net came up with its list by taking data from the U.S. Census Bureau to find out the median income for people in 98 of the biggest cities in the United States. Using a 40-hour workweek as the standard, Howmuch.net calculated an average hourly rate to level the playing field between the different types of jobs in the country, because some earn a salary and others are paid by the hour. Howmuch.net used the housing site Zillow to figure out the median housing price for each city and determined a monthly mortgage payment. Since most people take out a 30-year loan, Howmuch.net used that data also, and it compared the two numbers to see how long one would have to work to make that mortgage payment each month.

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While it takes longer for a homeowner to pay the monthly mortgage cost on either coast, there are plenty of affordable metro areas in other parts of the United States.

The best places tend to be old manufacturing cities such as Toledo, Ohio, or southern cities like Memphis, Tennessee. It takes 17 hours to work to pay the monthly mortgage in Toledo and just 18 in Memphis. So that means you only have to work to just past lunchtime on Wednesday to afford to live in Toledo.

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