California housing market is absolutely wild when you actually look at the numbers. I was digging into some real estate data and realized just how much you need to earn just to get a basic home in most CA cities.

Like, in San Francisco you're looking at needing over $400k annual household income just to afford a median-priced place. San Jose is right there with it too. Even if you go to supposedly cheaper areas, the average house cost in California per month is still insane compared to the rest of the country.

What caught my attention is that the national average income needed to afford a home is around $115k, but California's median household only makes about $85k. So you're already behind before you even start looking. The gap is huge.

I checked some of the more inland cities and yeah, Bakersfield and Fresno are more reasonable, but you still need like $100k-$115k just to make the monthly payments work. Even Sacramento, the state capital, requires over $150k income.

The average monthly mortgage payment in the Bay Area is hitting $10k+ which is absolutely mental. Makes you wonder how anyone actually buys homes there unless they're already wealthy or have family money. The housing affordability crisis in California is real and the numbers don't lie.