The math at $350k
$350,000 a year is $29,167 a month gross; the 28/36 guideline allows ~$8,167 for housing and $10,500 for all debts. Take-home lands very roughly around $17,500–$19,500 a month depending on filing status and equity-compensation timing — so the guideline payment is about 43–46% of net. The pattern of this series holds: 28% of gross never feels like 28%.
Worked examples at 7% (an example rate):
- $1.25M home, 20% down → $1.0M loan → $6,650 P&I + ~$1,200 property tax + ~$320 insurance = ~$8,170 a month, right at the guideline.
- $1.5M home, 25% down → $1.125M loan → $7,481 P&I + ~$1,440 tax + ~$375 insurance = ~$9,300 a month — 32% of gross, inside the ceiling for a clean file, and a payment you should choose on purpose.
Is $350k a good salary in California?
It is roughly 3.5× the statewide median household income (about $96,000, Census ACS) and lands in the top few percent of households in most of the state. In coastal metros it is the income at which a family-sized house in a good school district becomes a normal purchase rather than a stretch — which is exactly why the interesting questions at $350k are about structure and resilience, not qualification.
The high-balance conforming line, county by county
For 2026 the baseline conforming limit is $832,750, rising to $1,249,125 in high-cost counties like Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and most of the Bay Area (FHFA). A $1.0M loan is therefore high-balance conforming in those counties — Fannie/Freddie rules, slightly different pricing — and jumbo in Sacramento or Riverside. Three practical consequences:
- Know your county's limit before you shop; it decides which rulebook your loan lives under.
- Structure around the line when it matters: a slightly larger down payment, or an 80/10/10 piggyback (first loan at 80%, a second for 10%, 10% down), can keep the first mortgage conforming.
- Price both sides anyway. Jumbo lenders compete hard for strong two-income files and sometimes beat conforming pricing. This is a get-quotes-on-both-structures bracket.
Two incomes, one mortgage
Lenders qualify the household; leave, layoffs, and career changes happen to one person at a time. Run the payment against the larger single income: if $8,000 a month is 40% of one earner's gross, the house survives a pause; if it is 65%, the house depends on both paychecks arriving on schedule for the next decade. Neither answer is wrong — but it should be a decision, not a discovery. Reserves of six months of full payments after closing are the cheapest insurance this bracket can buy.
How lenders count income that isn't salary
- Bonus, commission, RSUs typically need a ~2-year history, get averaged, and may be discounted for volatility or vesting that ends soon. A $350k package that is $250k base + $100k variable may underwrite closer to $290k.
- A new job usually counts its base salary with an executed offer letter; the variable comp mostly doesn't, yet.
- Get fully underwritten, not just pre-qualified, before you fall for a specific house — the $300k guide covers the mechanics.
The childcare-era budget
$350k households are disproportionately in the years when childcare, preschool, or private-school tuition runs $2,000–$4,000 a month per child in the coastal metros. That spending isn't “debt,” so underwriting ignores it — and it can be larger than a car payment and a student loan combined. Subtract it from the take-home figure above before you pick the price, not after.
The tax picture at $1.3 million
Educational, not tax advice — bring your CPA into this before you offer (our CPA guide covers who to hire):
- Property tax: ~1.1–1.25% of purchase price ≈ $14,000–$16,000 a year on a $1.3M home, plus the one-time supplemental bill after closing.
- Mortgage interest deduction: capped at the interest on $750k of balance — on a $1.0M loan, a quarter of the interest is carried with after-tax dollars.
- SALT deduction: the federal cap was raised to $40,000 for 2025 (inching up ~1% a year through 2029) with a phase-down above $500,000 of income and a scheduled return to $10,000 in 2030 — at $350k you sit under the phase-down, which makes the after-tax cost of owning materially better than the old $10k-cap era.
How your credit score changes this
High-balance and jumbo tiers both step at the usual bands, and at these loan sizes small steps are large dollars:
| Score band | What it typically means for a conventional loan |
|---|---|
| 780+ | Best pricing tier under the current agency grids |
| 740–779 | Strong — small pricing add-ons at most lenders |
| 700–739 | Solid — noticeable pricing add-ons start here |
| 660–699 | Approvable — pricing and mortgage-insurance costs step up meaningfully |
| 620–659 | Conventional floor territory — FHA often prices better here |
| Below 620 | Conventional is out; FHA allows 580+ at 3.5% down (500–579 requires 10% down) |
For the same monthly payment, a rate three-quarters of a point higher carries roughly 7% less loan — on a $1.0M loan, about $70,000 of house between a top-band file and a mid-600s file. Two-borrower files are priced off the lower of the two scores on most programs, so the spouse with the thinner file is the one to clean up first. Freeze the credit picture from application to closing.