Although they may earn up to £400 a week, it is not enough for a 95 per cent mortgage on an average first home..
Calderdale Council's head of housing, Mark Thompson, said: "It starkly illustrates the effect of house price rises." And he said it underlined the need for more affordable housing.
The new Calderdale Housing Requirements Study shows that about 720 affordable properties for rent and sale would have to be built every year to keep pace with demand. Failure to do so would add to the pressure on prices and make it even more difficult for people to get on the housing ladder.
To solve the problem, the study suggests the council makes some of its land available for low-cost homes or uses the proceeds of land sales to help housing associations create more affordable properties.
Figures show that house prices in Calderdale went up by 78 per cent between 2001 and 2004 - the second highest increase in West Yorkshire.
Semi-detached houses have almost doubled in price and, according to the Land Registry, the overall property price in Calderdale is now £124,500.
"The key issue highlighted by the research is that very substantial numbers of people will struggle to access the property market at all without some intervention by the public service providers and hence there is a significant need for more affordable homes in Calderdale," said Mr Thompson.
"Affordable housing has to be a priority for the council if it is to avoid local people being priced out of their communities."
He added: "Key public-sector workers are being unable to access the housing market."
The study involved interviews with 1,200 people, 14,400 postal questionnaires, focus groups and scouring a wide range of published data.
It shows that in the past two years, more than 1,000 people have moved into Calderdale and only 200 new affordable homes have been created.
Since 2001, about 200 affordable homes have been snapped up under right-to-buy schemes.