Double Your Income...

...or don't think about trying to buy a home in Tacoma.

The typical prospective first-time buyer in Pierce County had just 56.3 percent, or $37,928, of the $67,368 annual income needed to purchase a house in the second quarter of 2007. That means the person would need nearly twice as much income to afford the mortgage on a starter home, said Glenn Crellin, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at WSU. [The News Tribune]

The "good news" is that it's worse in Seattle.