New Yorkers hoping to buy their first home may need to start saving decades before they get the keys.

New York City is the hardest major market in America for first-time buyers to scrape together a down payment, with a typical household needing a staggering 65.2 years to save enough, according to a new analysis from Rocket.

The median first-time buyer in the Big Apple puts down $265,000 — a 30% of the $883,333 purchase price, the analysis found.

That puts New York well ahead of even notoriously expensive California markets.

In San Francisco, a typical household would need 57.2 years to save the median $400,000 down payment, equivalent to roughly 27% of a $1.5 million purchase.

Los Angeles came in third, requiring 41.5 years to accumulate its $170,500 median down payment on an $852,500 home.

Boston followed at 37.8 years, with first-time buyers typically putting $185,000 down, while Anaheim and San Jose, both in pricey California, tied at 33.6 years. First-time buyers in San Jose put down a median $249,000 on a roughly $1.1 million purchase.

The calculation assumes a household saves 5% of its income every year. Rocket combined 2024 Census household-income data with down payments made by its first-time buyer mortgage customers between May 2025 and May 2026.

That means the eye-popping 65-year figure isn’t how long New Yorkers actually spend saving. Rather, it illustrates just how far the typical household’s income is from the amount first-time buyers are putting down in the city.

In New York, the median household income used in the analysis was $81,228, meaning saving 5% annually would amount to just over $4,000 a year.

The picture changes dramatically hundreds of miles west.

In Warren, Michigan, the median first-time buyer puts down just $8,797, or 5% of the $175,940 purchase price. A typical household could theoretically save that amount in only 3.1 years.

Nearby Detroit was second-fastest at 3.9 years, where buyers put down a median $7,600 — also about 5% — on a $152,000 home.

Virginia Beach and Fort Worth followed at 4.3 years each, while Indianapolis and Milwaukee both came in at roughly 4.4 years.

The vast divide isn’t solely the result of coastal homes costing more. Buyers in expensive markets are also putting a much larger share of the purchase price down.

In New York, first-timers put down a median 30%, six times the 5% share seen in Detroit and Warren.

New York’s notoriously demanding co-op market may help explain the difference. Many co-op and condo buildings require buyers to put 20% to 30% down, according to Redfin agent Jason Warner.

“The price point is so much higher in New York City than it is in most of the country,” Warner said in Rocket’s report.

He said the hurdle has changed the profile of the city’s first-time buyer.

“Since it takes a bit longer for first-time home buyers to save here, I’m now often helping mid-career professionals in their late 30s and early 40s to buy their first home after decades of renting,” Warner said.

And bringing more cash to the table can matter beyond simply satisfying a lender or building.

With inventory tight and sellers weighing which deals are most likely to make it to closing, a hefty down payment can make an offer appear stronger, Warner said.

The findings come as first-time buyers nationwide continue to face a daunting affordability equation.

The typical US homebuyer put down $64,000, or 15% of the purchase price, in March, according to a separate Redfin analysis. That’s roughly double the dollar amount buyers were putting down before the pandemic, largely because home prices have soared.

And despite some recent improvement in affordability, the typical American household still earns substantially less than what’s needed to comfortably buy a home.

Redfin estimated in June that a household needed to make about $109,800 a year to afford the typical US home, compared with an estimated median household income of about $87,600.

For New Yorkers, the gap is even wider: Redfin estimates a buyer needs to earn roughly $233,000 to afford a typical home in the metro, while its estimated median household income is about $98,000.

For would-be buyers who don’t have decades to wait, family assistance has increasingly become part of the equation.

Rocket’s analysis cited a Redfin survey finding that nearly a quarter of young recent homebuyers had used family money toward their down payment.

Others are widening their searches or adjusting their expectations.

But for buyers determined to stay in New York, the numbers illustrate the extraordinary amount of cash it can take just to get through the front door.