PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – The Portsmouth-Rochester area, which stretches into Maine, is one of the most expensive places in the country to find housing.

In Portsmouth-Rochester, the median family income was $56,100 and the median sales price was $230,000. Only 23.4 percent of the area homes were affordable for residents with a median income.

The area is ranked 10th in a survey of least-affordable housing by the National Association of Home Builders. The survey measures the percentage of homes sold that a family earning the median income can afford to buy, and compares family incomes and home prices for metropolitan areas around the country. The latest survey is based on third-quarter numbers for 2001.

Nashua was 58th most expensive on the list that included 186 areas. Burlington, Vt., tied for 64th.

Besides the Portsmouth-Rochester area, which stretches into Maine, no other area in Maine made the list.

The top nine least-affordable areas are all in California.

San Francisco no longer tops the list, a distinction that now falls 11/2 hours to the south in Santa Cruz, Calif.

The Santa Cruz metro area’s median income is $65,000, and the median home price is $420,000, up $5,000 from the previous quarterly survey.

San Francisco dropped to second, as its median home price fell $10,000 to $520,000, still the most expensive median home price in the country.

The Salinas metro area in Monterey County was third, followed by San Jose, which has a $450,000 median home price, the second most expensive median home price in the nation.

In Nashua, the median income was $68,300 and the median sales price was $192,000, with 59.9 percent of the homes falling under the median income.

In Burlington, the median income was $55,600 and the median sales price was $152,000 and 61 percent of the homes fell under the median income.

Rounding out the top nine were Santa Rosa, the Vallejo-Fairfield-Napa area, the San Luis-Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles area, Oakland and San Diego.

Numbers were not available for the other areas.

The most affordable housing was found in Rockford, Ill., which has a median home price of $99,000 and a median family income of $57,100.

Among cities of more than 1 million people, Indianapolis was the most affordable with a median home price of $130,000 and a median income of $60,700.

Santa Cruz has been vehemently anti-growth, but with such an expensive housing market the Santa Cruz City Council is trying to come up with solutions for environmentally sound and affordable housing.