In 2025, the income needed to buy a home Georgia buyers would call typically priced was highest in the Gainesville metro: about $130,409 a year, according to the National Housing Conference. That is a little more than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell ($129,005), Athens-Clarke County ($122,366) and Savannah ($118,336). NHC assumes 10% down and caps housing costs at 28% of gross income.
The figures come from a Georgia press release NHC published on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, built on its Paycheck to Paycheck database. Of the four metros the release names, Gainesville comes out on top. The Gainesville metro is just one county. All of Hall County makes up the Gainesville metropolitan area, which is part of the larger Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs combined statistical area.
The gap between Gainesville and Atlanta is small. It works out to $1,404 a year in required income, or roughly 1.1%. Under NHC's 28% rule that is about $33 a month in housing budget (our arithmetic from NHC's figures). The bigger point is that all four metros sit well above where Georgia was five years ago.
The four Georgia metros side by side
Here is NHC's estimate of the annual household income needed to afford a typically priced home in 2025:
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Gainesville (Hall County): $130,409
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Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell: $129,005
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Athens-Clarke County: $122,366
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Savannah: $118,336
Statewide, NHC says the average annual income needed to qualify for a typically priced home with 10% down across Georgia's metros went from $42,418 in 2020 to $90,644 in 2025, an increase of 113%. Average pay in the occupations NHC studied rose 27.3% over the same years, from $48,026 to $61,129.
"Georgia's numbers illustrate the fundamental affordability challenge facing working families: housing costs have moved far faster than paychecks," NHC President and CEO David M. Dworkin said in the release. "When the income needed to buy a home more than doubles in five years while wages rise by a fraction of that amount, even workers with good jobs are going to be priced out."
NHC's national blog post on the 2025 data gives one Georgia example. A heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver in Warner Robins could afford homeownership in 2020 but could not in 2025. Dworkin put it this way: "Georgia's affordability challenge reaches well beyond one city or one segment of the workforce."
How NHC calculates the income figure
NHC's method is simple once you strip it down. It works backward from a typical home value to the income needed to carry it. According to NHC's methodology page and blog, the model assumes:
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A 10% down payment.
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Housing costs of no more than 28% of gross income. NHC says it uses 28% "to account for maintenance expenses."
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The "prevailing" annual percentage rate on the mortgage.
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Property taxes of 1.1% of the home's value each year.
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Homeowner's insurance of 0.35% of the home's value each year.
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Private mortgage insurance of 1% of the home's value each year.
Typical home values come from the Zillow Home Value Index. Wages come from Bureau of Labor Statistics metro occupational estimates, and rents come from HUD Fair Market Rents. The database covers nearly 300 occupations across 390 metropolitan areas.
Why Gainesville comes out ahead of Atlanta
NHC did not explain why Gainesville ranks above Atlanta. Its method does tell you where the difference has to come from. The rate, the 10% down payment, and the tax, insurance and PMI percentages are the same in every metro. The only ownership input that changes from place to place is the Zillow typical home value.
So if Gainesville needs about 1.1% more income than Atlanta, the typical home value NHC used for Gainesville must have been about 1.1% higher than the one it used for the Atlanta metro. This is our inference from NHC's stated method, not something NHC published.
Geography matters here. The Gainesville figure describes one county. The Atlanta figure is a single typical value spread over a very large metro region, which mixes higher- and lower-priced areas. Comparing one county to a whole metro is not the same as comparing Gainesville to any particular Atlanta neighborhood.
What the income figure means per month
The headline income is less useful than the monthly budget behind it. NHC's 28% rule turns each income into a monthly housing budget (income × 0.28 ÷ 12). These monthly totals follow directly from NHC's numbers.
The split below is Mortgage in Georgia's illustration, not NHC's published figures. We used a 30-year fixed rate of 6.77%, the Freddie Mac average reported June 26, 2025, along with NHC's 10% down and its tax, insurance and PMI percentages. NHC's own rate assumption may differ. The implied home prices and the principal-and-interest line depend on that 6.77% rate and would shift at a different rate.
| Metro | Income needed (NHC) | Monthly budget at 28% | Implied home price (our estimate) | Principal and interest | Property tax | Insurance | PMI | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Gainesville | $130,409 | ≈ $3,043 | ≈ $386,000 | ≈ $2,256 | ≈ $353 | ≈ $112 | ≈ $321 | | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell | $129,005 | ≈ $3,010 | ≈ $381,000 | ≈ $2,231 | ≈ $350 | ≈ $111 | ≈ $318 | | Athens-Clarke County | $122,366 | ≈ $2,855 | ≈ $362,000 | ≈ $2,116 | ≈ $332 | ≈ $106 | ≈ $302 | | Savannah | $118,336 | ≈ $2,761 | ≈ $350,000 | ≈ $2,047 | ≈ $321 | ≈ $102 | ≈ $292 |
The implied home prices above are our back-calculations, not the Zillow values NHC used. They show roughly what a home in each metro would have to cost to fit NHC's budget under our rate assumption.
What the model misses for Georgia buyers
NHC uses the same assumptions everywhere so that it can compare hundreds of metros. That consistency is useful for comparison, but your own payment will differ in a few predictable places.
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Property tax. NHC's 1.1% is one national rate. It is not the actual millage in Hall, Fulton, Clarke or Chatham County, and it ignores Georgia homestead exemptions. Depending on the county and whether you file for an exemption, your tax line could be noticeably higher or lower than the table shows.
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PMI. NHC assumes 1% of the home's value a year for everyone. Real PMI pricing depends on your credit score and down payment, so the PMI line is a rough placeholder.
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Down payment. A bigger down payment lowers the loan amount and can reduce or remove PMI. In the table, PMI is the second-largest monthly cost after principal and interest, so this assumption matters.
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Insurance. The 0.35% insurance figure is also a flat assumption. Your actual premium depends on the property, its location and the coverage you choose.
Renters face the same squeeze
NHC measures rent separately, capping it at 30% of income. The average income needed to afford a two-bedroom rental in Georgia rose from $33,831 in 2020 to $51,969 in 2025. In Atlanta, it went from $46,680 to $73,200.
How to use these numbers
If you are shopping in Hall County, Atlanta, Athens or Savannah, treat NHC's figures as a starting benchmark rather than a verdict.
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Start with the monthly budget. Find 28% of your own gross monthly income and compare it to the monthly totals in the table. That tells you more than the annual income headline does.
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Replace the flat assumptions with real ones. When you get a Loan Estimate, compare its property tax, homeowner's insurance and mortgage insurance lines with NHC's flat percentages. The tax line especially can move a lot from one Georgia county to the next.
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Price the down payment. Ask your lender how your payment and PMI change at different down payment amounts. If saving for the down payment is the bottleneck, our coverage of Georgia Dream and other down-payment help programs is a good next read.
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Compare the right areas. A one-county metro like Gainesville and a large region like Atlanta are not like-for-like. Look at prices in the specific towns or neighborhoods you are considering.
Related reading
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Georgia Home Contracts Slid in September While Listings Kept Climbing
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What Happens Between a Missed Payment and a Georgia Foreclosure Sale
