Places where 50% of Americans can’t afford a home

If you're thinking about buying a home, you're likely wondering, "How much house can I afford?" Of course, you can buy a lot more house for your money in some places. But if you live in one of the most expensive cities, you might not even be able to afford a home.

In fact, GOBankingRates found that in many large cities, homeownership is likely out of reach for more than half of the households. We used the median home listing price in the 100 biggest cities to figure the monthly mortgage payment. Using the rule of thumb that no more than 30 percent of income should go toward housing, we calculated the income needed to afford a mortgage in those cities. We then compared this income to the number of households with income equal to or greater than that amount.

Out of the 100 largest cities in the U.S., we ranked the ones where homeownership is out of reach for more than 50 percent of households, from the lowest percentage to highest.Click through to find out if you can afford a home in America's largest cities.

Methodology: The median listing price for each city was current as of Oct. 31, 2017, sourced from Zillow. The average monthly mortgage payments were calculated using Zillow's mortgage calculator. Mortgage terms were based on the city's median listing price, 30-year fixed rate mortgage, 20 percent down payment and state average mortgage rate, sourced from Zillow on Dec. 1, 2017. The monthly mortgage payment was multiplied by 12 to get the annual mortgage payment amount. Based on the rule of thumb of putting no more than 30 percent of income toward housing, we calculated the income needed to afford a home in each city. We then compared this income to the number of households whose income was approximately equal to or greater than the amount in the 100 largest cities in the country, with household data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2016 American Community Survey.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Places Where 50% of Americans Can’t Afford a Home