(bankrate/msnbc) One of the worst things about today's real estate market is that there doesn't seem to be any silver lining in that big black cloud. Normally, you'd think dramatically falling prices would make homeownership possible for more moderate-income families. But even with homes more affordable, the median price in many markets is still out of reach for a median-income family, according to "Paycheck to Paycheck: Wages and the Cost of Housing in America," a study by the Center for Housing Policy, or CHP, in Washington, D.C. Comparing housing costs in 210 metropolitan areas with the wages earned by workers in 60 occupations, the study found that homeownership is often unaffordable for workers in each of the five-fastest growing occupations -- registered nurses, retail salespeople, customer-service representatives, food-preparation workers and office clerks. Registered nurses, who typically have high salaries, were unable to purchase a median-priced home in 108 of the markets. "Even with the housing downturn, the drop in prices still just isn't enough for many workers in traditional backbone occupations to afford houses," says Rebecca Cohen, a CHP research associate. In many parts of the country, housing increases have outpaced wage growth for almost a decade. Census data released in 2006 revealed that between 2000 and 2005, the burden of housing costs grew sharply.

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