Research August 12, 2026 7 min read

Everyone who works for the City of Boston HAS TO live within the city. Here's how you can OWN.

A single person can't afford to own ANYWHERE. But with only 3, sometimes 2 other people within a three family, you can afford to live EVERYWHERE.

City of Boston employees are required to live within city limits. The salaries the City pays do not match what Boston homes cost. This page puts the two side by side, neighborhood by neighborhood, and shows what changes when a three-family building is bought by three households instead of one.

Each row is a neighborhood. "Three-family building" and "One unit of three" columns come straight from our own sales data — what homes actually sold for. The benchmark tiers ($50K, $70K, $85K, $100K) are median salaries for various groups of City of Boston departments, converted into a monthly housing budget of 28% of their income — the level someone earning that salary can safely spend on housing. The colored cells compare the two: if the monthly cost is higher than the salary allows, that group is locked out of buying alone. Once you add co-buyers, the cost per person drops, and in most neighborhoods it drops enough to become affordable.

Monthly total cost comparisons between renting and owning together.

Salary benchmark
Down payment
Within the $85K ceiling of $1,983/mo
Over the ceiling
under rentCosts less than renting a bedroom there
The building Monthly cost to own one unit
Neighborhood Three-family
building		 One unit
of three		 One person
in the unit		 Two people
in the unit		 Three people
in the unit

Three households buy the building together and each takes one unit. The monthly figures are what one household pays to own its unit — mortgage, taxes, insurance and repairs at 20% down — divided among the people living in it.

Utilizing the City's Co-Purchasing Program to Afford the Down Payment

I'm actually speechless here, it speaks for itself.

Down payment
The property Down payment on one unit Split among the unit
Neighborhood Three-family
building		 One unit
of three		 20% down
on the unit		 City
assistance		 Household
brings		 Each of
two		 Each of
three		 Six months
of reserves

Each household buys one unit and receives one assistance award, capped at 5% of that unit's price. The household must still contribute at least 1.5% of the unit price from its own funds. "Each of two" and "each of three" divide what the household brings among the people living in that unit. Reserves are not part of the down payment — they are savings a lender expects the household to still hold at closing, shown here as six months of that unit's monthly cost.

How a Three-Family Breaks Down

Figures shown for Dorchester, the neighborhood with the deepest three-family sales history in the data, at 20% down.

How We Calculated the Benchmark Ceilings

$50K Benchmark
$1,167/mo
$50,000 × 28% ÷ 12
$70K Benchmark
$1,633/mo
$70,000 × 28% ÷ 12
$85K Benchmark
$1,983/mo
$85,000 × 28% ÷ 12
$100K Benchmark
$2,333/mo
$100,000 × 28% ÷ 12

Median salary figures are per-department medians provided by the City of Boston workforce data. Benchmark labels are rounded reference points ($50K/$70K/$85K/$100K); underlying department medians vary within each group. The 28% is the standard "don't spend more than this on housing" rule lenders use.

Which departments sit in each benchmark
$50K Benchmark
Transportation & Traffic ($45.9K, 1,225 employees); City Council ($53.4K, 141 employees)
$70K Benchmark
Public Works / Parks / Facilities ($68.8K, 1,781 employees); Library ($71.6K, 556 employees); General Government & Admin ($68.9K, 787 employees)
$85K Benchmark
Finance / Budget / Treasury ($80.4K, 395 employees); Boston Public Schools ($86.5K, 13,555 employees)
$100K Benchmark
Housing / Planning / Inspections ($95.2K, 775 employees); IT & Innovation ($105.6K, 268 employees); Law ($101.2K, 79 employees)
What every row assumes
Financing
6.5% interest, 30-year fixed, 20% down.
Carrying costs
1.15% property tax, 0.5% insurance, 1% annual repairs, all applied monthly.
The property
Average sale price of three-unit multi-family homes in each neighborhood, divided by three units.
Splitting the cost
One unit's full monthly cost divided evenly among the people living in it.
How the Boston program works Full program details →
Who qualifies
First-time buyers at or below the program income limits, buying a home in Boston to live in.
What the award covers
Down payment assistance up to 5% of the purchase price of the unit being bought.
What the buyer must contribute
At least 1.5% of the purchase price from the household's own funds.
One award per household
Each household buying a unit applies separately, so a three-family bought by three households draws three awards.

Sources

Median price per bedroom and listing counts
Restored Living own_town_median table, filtered to Boston, MA sub-areas.
Three-family unit prices
Restored Living MLS master file, filtered to three-unit multi-family sales and grouped by neighborhood. Sample sizes range from 6 sales in Allston to 146 in Dorchester; smaller samples are directional.
Median rent per bedroom
Restored Living rent_by_town table.
Salary benchmarks
City of Boston department-level median salary and headcount data, grouped into four round-number reference points. These are not HUD AMI figures.
Affordability ceiling
Annual salary × 28% ÷ 12, the standard front-end debt-to-income ratio lenders use.

If you have 1-2 people you really trust, and have either a network of others or want a network of others, with incomes and savings levels near here, you could be in a position to purchase in 3-6 months.

Next Step