Most of us reading this can afford to survive in expensive coastal cities; drawing conclusions about the affordability of middle American cities based on the experience of the top quintile is a very bad way to reason about these things. A much more fruitful way is to use actual numbers. So let’s do that.

The minimum down payment for most mortgages is 3.5%, which yields a mortgage payment of $635 at today’s rates, according to Zillow. This includes P&I, PMI, taxes, and insurance. So far so good.

The maximum recommended amount of your monthly take home your mortgage should be is 28%. If we follow this recommendation then our hypothetical family needs to bring home $2,267 after tax to guarantee that their mortgage is no more than 28% of their monthly budget.

$2,267 works out to $13.07 per hour for one person fully employed, or $6.53 for two people.

So yes, it’s technically possible at most minimum wages, but boy are those margins slim. I think the biggest issue here is that assuming that both members of the household can maintain perfect full time employment forever in an area where houses are that cheap is a really dangerous assumption to make.

The towns (a few different ones, all with MSA populations in the 500,000 range) I'm thinking of has fast food starting at $13.50/hour. With two incomes it isn't out of reach, and that is before you work up the chain, or find a better job - there are lots of other jobs hiring in the area for better pay (they are harder jobs to break into though). While the areas aren't the best, they are still safer than many larger cities.

Margins are slim for sure though. That point should not be overlooked. I am not trying to claim it is easy to live at the bottom.