What it costs to own a home in New York
A median-priced New York home costs about $3,866 a month to own with 20% down at today's 6.65% thirty-year rate. That covers $3,060 of principal and interest, $646 of property tax and $160 of homeowners insurance. Staying inside the 28% front-end ratio lenders use takes a household income of roughly $165,684 a year.
- Median home price
- $595,900
- Monthly cost
- $3,866
- Income needed
- $165,684
- Property tax rate
- 1.30%
What sets the payment in New York?
| Input | New York | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Effective property tax rate | 1.30% | 11th highest of 51 |
| Median home price | $595,900 | 7th highest of 51 |
| Average annual premium | $1,600 | on a $250k dwelling |
| Assessment cap | none | assessments track market value |
| Price level vs national | 107.9 | BEA price parity, 100 = US average |
| Appreciation, past year | +6.76% | FHFA index |
| Appreciation, past five years | +58.5% | FHFA index |
What makes New York different
The statewide rate on this page is the least useful number New York produces. At 1.30% it is an average of markets that have almost nothing to do with one another, and applying it to a specific address will usually be wrong in one direction or the other.
New York City effective rates on houses and condominiums run well below the state average, held down by a tangle of abatements, assessment caps and a classification system that shifts burden toward commercial property. Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester run well above it, in places past 2%, on some of the highest house prices in the country — producing annual bills that exceed the median household income of entire states. Upstate applies high rates to low values, so the percentage looks alarming while the dollar figure stays modest. Same state, three different arithmetic problems.
If the address is in the five boroughs or on Long Island, treat the tax line here as a placeholder and look up the actual assessment. It is the single largest source of error on this site for New York, and the gap is often several hundred dollars a month.
Prices rose 6.76% over the past year, second only to Illinois, and 58.5% over five — the suburban markets in particular have not slowed the way the Sun Belt has.
How much income do you need to buy a house in New York?
All four rows buy the same $595,900 house at today's 6.65% rate. The difference is entirely the down payment and the mortgage insurance it does or does not trigger.
| Down | Cash at closing | P&I | PMI | Total monthly | Income needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5% down | $20,857 | $3,692 | $455 | $4,952 | $212,246 |
| 5% down | $29,795 | $3,634 | $330 | $4,770 | $204,429 |
| 10% down | $59,590 | $3,443 | $206 | $4,454 | $190,890 |
| 20% down | $119,180 | $3,060 | — | $3,866 | $165,684 |
What is a New York home bought in 2020 worth now?
Working backwards from today's median along the FHFA path for New York: what that same house would have cost at the time, the rate available then, and where the loan and the equity stand today at 20% down.
| Bought | Price then | Rate | P&I | Balance now | Equity now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-2010 | $203,774 | 4.74% | $849 | $103,273 | $492,627 |
| Mid-2015 | $237,201 | 3.98% | $904 | $143,560 | $452,340 |
| Mid-2018 | $292,592 | 4.57% | $1,196 | $198,003 | $397,897 |
| Mid-2020 | $341,137 | 3.16% | $1,174 | $235,738 | $360,162 |
| Mid-2022 | $461,285 | 5.52% | $2,100 | $346,464 | $249,436 |
| Mid-2024 | $534,482 | 6.92% | $2,822 | $417,629 | $178,271 |
How do wages vary across New York?
Wages track local price levels closely. These are the metropolitan areas in New York the calculator recognises from a ZIP code, and the pay adjustment it applies to national occupation wages there.
| Metro area | Price level | Pay adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City | 115.9 | +21% |
| Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | 94.8 | -7% |
| Rochester, NY | 94.6 | -7% |
Run a real address. These are state medians. Put in an actual New York address, the date it closed and the price paid, and the calculator will work out that home's payment, its mortgage-insurance dates and the equity behind it.