Chicago housing prices, incomes conducive to homeownership, says Finder

The pool of homebuyers that can afford Chicago housing prices is pretty large. In a Finder.com review of housing and income data from a variety of sources, Chicagoland comes in as a place where people who make a little above an average income can find a home at a reasonable price. Finder.com compiled data from a variety of sources. They used Census Bureau numbers, data from Zillow, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Urban Institute. What they were looking for were a set of benchmarks to gauge how much homes cost in a variety of markets, and how easy it is to pay both mortgage and non-mortgage debt. Chicago came in at a comfortable 20 out of 78 cities that were rated. The average home value was pegged at $200,300. The analysis found that one could afford to buy a house in Chicagoland with a salary that’s within reach for the middle class-- $57,038. Most of the top 10 entries on the list required low six-figure salaries to afford the average home. The top-ranke...