The average salary needed to buy a home in the Baltimore metro area comes from HSH.com, which is a financial publishing website.

The Baltimore metro area includes places like Towson, and the site states the counties included are Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Queen Anne’s, Carroll, Harford Counties, which really changes the “affordability” factor. The Baltimore metro area spans a large area – so please be aware that the “average salary” needed to purchase a home could be different depending on the city or county you are considering.

That being said, the HSH.com site states that the average home price for Baltimore metro, including all of those counties above, is $280,200. The assumption the site makes also is that a homebuyer is putting 20% down on the house. If that were the case, they estimate that the salary needed to buy an average priced home in the Baltimore metro area is $66,445.35. With only 10% down, the site adjusts the estimate to $76,241.06.

Now, what one needs to understand is that all of the counties listed above are VERY different. The average sales price in Howard County may be MUCH higher than Baltimore City, but the AVERAGE of them is $280,200. There are quite a number of houses in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, for that matter, that are significantly less than the average for the Baltimore Metropolitan area.

For a better understanding of what the Baltimore real estate market really is and what you may be able to buy depending on your desired area, please contact me. I can recommend lenders who can help you see what programs are out there and may work for you!