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Identity Finance · 60 Combinations

Can You Afford a Home
on Your Profession's Salary?

Real mortgage math for 6 professions × 10 cities. Not generic advice — your profession's actual income, challenges, and programs.

🏥
Nurses
$65,000–$115,000
AustinDallasMiamiSeattleDenverNashvilleCharlottePhoenixChicagoRaleigh
📚
Teachers
$45,000–$95,000
AustinDallasMiamiSeattleDenverNashvilleCharlottePhoenixChicagoRaleigh
🚒
Firefighters
$55,000–$120,000
AustinDallasMiamiSeattleDenverNashvilleCharlottePhoenixChicagoRaleigh
👮
Police Officers
$50,000–$110,000
AustinDallasMiamiSeattleDenverNashvilleCharlottePhoenixChicagoRaleigh
💻
Software Engineers
$90,000–$250,000+
AustinDallasMiamiSeattleDenverNashvilleCharlottePhoenixChicagoRaleigh
🚗
Uber & Rideshare Drivers
$30,000–$80,000 (net after expenses)
AustinDallasMiamiSeattleDenverNashvilleCharlottePhoenixChicagoRaleigh
🏦 Ask Zai for Your Profession →
The other half of the answer

Income tells you what you can carry. It does not tell you whether a lender will say yes — and that varies more than almost anyone realises.

1.8% – 78.7%
the range across the 100 largest FHA lenders in 2025 · national average 22.1%

And it is not simply who applies where: standardizing on state, loan amount, income, debt-to-income and loan-to-value, applicant mix explains only a 2.7× range in expected outcomes.

The record here → Which lenders approve most → Apply to more than one? →

CFPB HMDA 2025, computed by FinanceRateCalc. Covers the highest-volume lenders published per market, not all lenders. Rates reflect applicant mix as well as lender practice — historical observations, not predictions. CC BY 4.0, not independently reproduced.

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One finding a week from the federal mortgage record.
One chart, three paragraphs, every Saturday. Measured, not assumed.
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FinanceRateCalc · Independent analysis of the complete federal HMDA record · Measured, not assumed. · No lender or AI vendor funds or previews this work.