Home ownership is a symbol of financial stability for most Americans – but for those living in countries where the cost of living is higher, it may seem to be working just to keep a roof over their heads.
The average home -scale home is $ 412,000, according to Realtor.com February 2025 Monthly housing trends report. Homeowners who buy a home at that price point will have to work specifically 10 days every month to cope with the death payment -and this is without factors at any other expense.
“Home prices have meant increased salaries in recent years, expanding the gap between income and affordability of housing,” says Hannah Jones, Realtor.com® Senior economic research analyst.
“This inequality intensified [COVID-19] Pandemic, when an increase in inventory of housing questions, running home prices harshly and increases economic pressure on households. “
Hawaii has the highest average price of the country’s house list with $ 796,947. Homeowners who buy a home at this price point will have to work 17 days each month only to cover $ 5,222, including tax and insurance. The average wage per hour in January 2025 was $ 38.
In California, they face a similar trend, with homeowners who need to work 15 days a month to cover a $ 4,773 payment, including tax and insurance. Similarly, homeowners in Montana.
Meanwhile, Western Virginia and Ohio have the lowest price of the average house list, at $ 247,000 and $ 259,450, where residents will have to work 7 and 6 days per month respectively.
In other countries, including Kansas, Misuri, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Michigan, it takes about 7 days of work every month to cover mortgage payments.
A standard full -time job means working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, or about 20 to 22 days a month.
Nearly 75% of American households, approximately 100.6 million, cannot afford a new average home in 2025, owned at about $ 459,826, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Even the modest increase in house prices or mortgage rates exacerbates this affordability crisis significantly. For example, an increase of only $ 1000 in environmental house prices would make homeowners unaffordable for 115,593 additional families nationwide.
How does the absence of homes affect
The affordability crisis is not just about rising prices; It is also about a shortage of homes.
Housing construction has not kept peace with questions, according to a recent report of the US Bureau registration.
And, the lack of housing will take 7.5 years to fix the current building rate, according to a new report on the gap of housing supply from the Realtor.com economic research team.
Although the supply gap was moderately improved in 2024, the country still fell 3.8 million units less than meeting demand requirements compared to new household formations and closed demand, the analysis found.
In January 2025, 1.48 million new construction permits were issued, but the current housing begins.
Meanwhile, 1.65 million houses were completed, but the overall supply remains limited, pushing the highest prices and making the housing less affordable for many Americans.
This lack of supply disproportionately affects low -income and marginalized communities. A recent McKinsey report stressed that black Americans are among the most busy, with nearly 60% of tenants facing moderate or heavy challenges of housing costs.
“More home supply in more price points can help bring income and prices of home more in synchronous. Not all families are interested in buying a home, so the large rental inventory and for sale are both important to provide affordable housing opportunities,” Jones adds.
Data Methodology: To evaluate the affordability of the housing, this analysis calculates the number of working days needed to cover an average monthly mortgage payment in each country. Estimates are based on average prices of house lists since February 2025 and receive a 30-year fixed mortgage at an interest rate of 6.65%. Assets and insurance costs are factorized in the use of an annual rate of 1.7%, and calculations assume that 20% payments. Salary data is from issuing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ January 2025, which traces average earnings per hour across countries.
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