How Much Do I Need to Make to Buy a House?

TAYLOR LAMBERT September 8, 2026

I get this question all the time: "How much money do I need to make to buy a home in Silicon Valley?"

Obviously, the answer is “it depends.” then I would direct them to some fantastic lenders I know, but I thought it would be interesting to put some estimated numbers together for all you lovely people out there. These are ESTIMATES, not facts.

For example, if you were buying a $1.9M home and putting 20% down, you're looking at a $380,000 down payment and a mortgage of about $1.52M. At around 6%, that’s roughly $9,100 a month in principal and interest. Add property taxes, and you're around $11,000 a month before things like insurance, HOA dues, or maintenance.

And that's the part that can make Silicon Valley real estate feel a little crazy! It's just expensive!

So I put together a quick chart showing what the numbers look like from $1M all the way up to $2M, including the approximate down payment, monthly payment, income range, and how much cash you’d ideally want available to purchase.

Here’s a quick look at what the numbers can look like with a 20% down payment.

Home Price	20% Down	Est. Monthly Cost	Yearly Income Needed	Cash to Have Available to Buy
$1.0M	$210K	- $5,900	$250K–$275K	$250K–$300K
$1.1M	$230K	- $6,500	$275K–$300K	$275K–$325K
$1.2M	$250K	- $7,100	$300K–$325K	$300K–$350K
$1.3M	$270K	- $7,650	$325K–$350K	$325K–$375K
$1.4M	$290K	- $8,250	$350K–$375K	$350K–$400K
$1.5M	$310K	- $8,850	$375K–$400K	$375K–$425K
$1.6M	$330K	- $9,450	$400K–$425K	$400K–$450K
$1.7M	$350K	- $10,050	$425K–$450K	$425K–$475K
$1.8M	$370K	- $10,650	$450K–$475K	$450K–$500K
$1.9M	$390K	- $11,200	$475K–$500K	$475K–$525K
$2.0M	$410K	- $11,800	$500K–$550K	$500K–$575K

Of course, these are estimates. Your actual numbers can be very different depending on your income, debts, credit, assets, down payment, and the type of loan you use.

And there are some interesting strategies available to buyers that don't necessarily require you to have a giant pile of cash sitting in the bank.

If you're curious what you could realistically afford in today's market, shoot me a message. I'm happy to help! Just some good old-fashioned Silicon Valley math.

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!