Buyers Must Make Over $500K To Afford A Home In This CA County

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — San Mateo County homebuyers must make over $500,000 to afford a home in the area, according to the California Association of Realtors, which reported the county has the highest minimum qualifying income for ownership in the state.

To purchase a median-priced single-family home in the county for $2.08 million, buyers require an annual income of at least $524,000, a hurdle cleared by about 18 percent, the association said in a recent report looking at data from the third quarter of 2025.

“Housing affordability in California stayed near its all-time low and continued to be a challenge for both buyers and sellers,” the report said of the third-quarter data.

The counties with the second- and third-highest minimum qualifying incomes are also in the Bay Area, with Santa Clara County buyers needing at least a $482,400 income for a $1.92 million median-priced home and San Francisco County buyers requiring an income of no less than $409,600 for a $1.63 million home, according to the association.

The statewide minimum income for buyers was $223,600, with a median existing home in California priced at $887,380, a cost 17 percent of buyers in the state could afford, the association reported.