• Median home price: $455,000
• Median income: $68,300
• % of homes that are affordable: 28.5%

New York is a hell of a town, but not for homebuyers. Family income levels are barely higher than the national median of $65,000, but home prices are nearly two and a half times as much, according to the National Association of Home Builder/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.

That puts nearly two-thirds of the New York metro-area's housing inventory out of reach for the average homebuyer. In Manhattan, home prices are even more stratospheric, averaging a brutal $1,100 a square foot, according to appraiser Miller Samuel. That means this $1.3 million listing for a 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side is pretty much the norm.

And, despite substantial unemployment, 8.5% in October, people continue to move to Gotham and its surrounding boroughs. The metro area gained nearly 100,000 newcomers last year -- nearly the entire population of a small city. All of those new residents make it that much harder to find an affordable place.

NEXT: San Francisco