Buying a home in New York City will cost the average resident the better part of their adult life — in savings time, at least.

According to StreetEasy’s April 2026 market report, a New Yorker earning the city’s median income would need close to 20 years of disciplined saving to scrape together a standard down payment on a median-priced home.

The math is brutal. A New Yorker pulling down the city’s median household income would need to set aside 10% of their paycheck every year (before taxes, before student loans, before the cost of actually living in New York) for roughly two decades before they’d have enough cash to put a standard 20% down payment on a median-priced home.

According to StreetEasy’s April 2026 market report, a typical New Yorker earning the city’s median income would need roughly 20 years to save enough for a 20% down payment on a median-priced NYC home. Tupungato

The median asking price for a New York City home sat at $1.04 million last month, placing a 20% down payment at $209,000.…