Third place: Honolulu
This hillside Honolulu house with six bedrooms is selling for $730,000.
Median home price: $425,000
Median family income: $81,700
Affordability score: 42.1%
The American Paradise has two strikes against it when it comes to housing: Its isolation in the middle of the North Pacific results in high material costs; and its mountainous topography makes some land hard to develop. That results in high median home prices.
Income is robust, but not enough to offset the high costs of housing. That means few homes are affordable for a median wage earners.
And there's little hope that this situation will change. Honolulu's prices never bubbled, staying in the $400,000 to $475,000 range, since 2006. That means affordability is likely to remain elusive for years to come.
NEXT: Fourth place: Los Angeles
Last updated February 23 2011: 3:17 PM ET
