If you’re interested in buying a home in the Atlanta area, it’s important to make sure you can comfortably afford it. Recently, HSH.com compiled a list of the incomes needed to buy a median-priced home in 27 metro areas, including Atlanta. They pulled information from the National Association of Realtors’ 2015 third-quarter data and factored in the principal, interest, taxes and insurance required for the homebuying process in each market.

Here’s the information you need before buying a home in metro Atlanta: The median-priced home in the Atlanta metro area is $178,000. In order to afford this median-priced home, you need a base salary of $39,393.11. If you pay a 20 percent down payment on the home, which would be $35,780, you’ll have an average of a $919.17 monthly payment. Remember, this doesn’t factor in the cost of living. Your cable and phone bills aren’t included in this estimate, and neither are the additional costs that come with owning a home, like lawn care and other maintenance.

If you can’t afford a huge down payment, you could potentially be eligible to pay just a 10 percent down payment of $17,890. This might seem less intimidating at first, but the salary needed to cover the base costs after this payment jumps to $45,628 to cover the higher loan amount, which results in a higher monthly payment, and the monthly Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI).

Thankfully, Atlanta is one of the least expensive metro areas listed. Pittsburgh ranked as the cheapest, with the average salary necessary for a median-priced home a low $33,729.07. San Francisco was the most expensive, with a whopping base salary of $153,152.08. If you want to read more about the data, you can find all the info at www.hsh.com.

The Atlanta real estate prices vary throughout the metro area, so there’s a home out there that fits you and your budget. If you’re interested in finding a home for sale in metro Atlanta, visit www.atlantarealestateforum.com.