General wisdom is that a family should not spend more than 30 percent of its income on housing.
According to California Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Index, only 13 percent of the households in the Bay Area in February (2005) had at least the minimum income of $157,210 to buy a home at the median price of $667,850.
For renters, the Center for Housing Policy found that a worker needs to earn $15.21 an hour in 2003 to have a two-bedroom apartment that did not exceed more than 30% of income.