12/16/2025
You need to make $169k in Utah to afford a home in the current market- that's insane
A new analysis shows just how far out of reach homeownership has become for many Americans, as incomes fail to keep up with rising home prices.
Buyers now need to earn six figures to afford a median-priced home in all but 15 states, according to Visual Capitalist. The typical four-person household can’t qualify for a mortgage on a median three-bedroom home in most of the country.
Hawaii remains the least affordable market. A median three-bedroom home costs about $797,000, which requires an income of roughly $229,000.
West Virginia is the most affordable. A buyer there needs to earn only $71,000, well below the state’s median household income of $90,000.
Utah falls on the high end. Buyers in the state need to earn about $169,000 a year to afford a median-priced home.
A separate report from Bankrate underscores the trend, finding that more than 75% of homes nationwide are unaffordable for the typical household when applying the standard benchmark—housing costs should not exceed 30% of a family’s income.
# affordability
