Home Prices Are Out of Reach for Most Middle-Income Earners

With more homes available for sale, homebuyers should have a competitive advantage. Currently, there are more homes available for sale than there have been since the worst point of the post-pandemic housing shortage. However, many would-be buyers find themselves unable to afford the typical listing. According to The Housing Mismatch report from Realtor.com and the National Association of Realtors, buyers earning about $75,000 per year can only afford 23% of active listings. In a balanced market, middle-income earners should be able to access about 44% of listings, the report says. 

Buyers nationwide are finding that their incomes don’t align with list prices

To figure out how many listings buyers can afford, the report developed the Listing-Income Alignment Score, which measures how well the distribution of home listings in a given market matches the income distribution of local households.

A score of 100% means listings are distributed proportionally across income levels, while a lower score means the available listings don’t match what local buyers can afford. Nationwide, the score was 74.9% as of March, which is up from 66.7% in March 2025, but still below the 84.4% pre-pandemic baseline.

Midwestern markets are the most aligned. Meanwhile, middle-income earners in coastal markets are struggling the most

Among the 100 largest metros in the U.S., the most aligned markets are concentrated in the Midwest, with Toledo, Ohio, leading the way with a score of 107.4%, followed by St. Louis at 106%, and then Akron, Ohio, at 105%.

The least aligned metros are all located in California. Local middle-income buyers can afford the least amount of listings in Los Angeles, followed by San Diego, and then Oxnard. These metros had respective scores of 39.4%, 45%, and then 46.8%.