Homebuyers Must Earn 70% More Than They Needed 6 Years Ago

Driven by growing home prices and mortgage rates, the income required to afford a typical home in the U.S. has increased by 70% over the past six years. According to real estate marketing platform Realtor.com, a household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to buy a median-priced home as of April 2025. This is $47,000 more than the income needed to purchase a home in 2019. On a monthly basis, a household would now need to earn $9,500 to comfortably afford housing costs in 2025. However, the average U.S. household income as of most recent 2023 data was only around $80,600, which is about 41% less than what is currently needed.

The only bit of good news for potential homebuyers is that the required income has held mostly steady over the past year, largely because mortgage rates and median home prices have remained flat.

"While the income needed to purchase a home has leveled off nationally over the past year, it remains significantly higher than before the [COVID-19] pandemic, underscoring the ongoing challenge of affordability even as market conditions gradually rebalance," says Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. Read more