Most Households Can’t Afford a Home Over $300K

As housing costs rise, prospective homebuyers are being priced out of their local housing markets. According to the National Association of Home Builders’ 2026 Priced-Out Analysis, 52% of households, or nearly 70 million, cannot afford a home that costs more than $300,000.

The report places listing prices into tiers, with homes priced below $200,000 as the lowest tier and homes priced higher than $2.5 million as the highest tier. The largest share of households falls within the first tier, and as the home price ranges increase, there are fewer households that can afford a home in that category. 

Most households can't afford a home priced higher than $300,000

As the graphic above illustrates, the majority of households fall into the first two (lower) tiers, which include homes priced at or below $200,000 and homes priced between $200,000 and $300,000. Approximately 47.5 million households can afford a home priced at $200,000 or less, and 22.4 million households fall into the $200,000 to $300,000 tier.  

At the same time, just one million households can afford homes priced at $2.5 million or higher, the highest tier in the report. 

A lack of attainable housing inventory continues to be a challenge

Although most U.S. households can't afford a house that is priced higher than $300,000, there are far less available listings in this price range. The report estimates that there are just 20 million homes that are priced below $200,000 in the U.S. compared with the more than 47.5 million households that are buying at that price point. Additionally, for the 22.4 million households that fall into the $200,000 to $300,000 price tier, there are less than 15 million homes. 

However, as the home price tiers increase—and the share of households that can afford to buy in that price range declines—inventory becomes less of a challenge. The report shows that the share of households that can afford a home in the $750,000 to $1.5 million price range, for instance, sits at around 7.7 million, and the share of homes in that price range is comparable.