The Typical House in This Beautiful American Town Only Costs $84,950

For much of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer prices rose far faster than incomes. Even though wage gains have overtaken inflation in more recent years, the effects of soaring prices are still evident in communities across the United States — particularly in the housing market. 24/7 Wall St. : Home prices in the U.S. have […] The post The Typical House in This Beautiful American Town Only Costs $84,950 appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..

Apr 1, 2025 - 14:33

The Typical House in This Beautiful American Town Only Costs $84,950

For much of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer prices rose far faster than incomes. Even though wage gains have overtaken inflation in more recent years, the effects of soaring prices are still evident in communities across the United States — particularly in the housing market.

24/7 Wall St. Key Points:

Home prices in the U.S. have surged in the years since the pandemic, giving way to a housing affordability crisis.
Still, there are parts of the country where home prices remain closely in line with what local residents can afford.
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As of February 2025, the typical American home on the market was listed for $412,000, according to Realtor.com’s housing market database. While the median list price is considerably lower than the all-time high of $449,000 reported in June 2022, it is also still about 38% higher than the January 2020 median list price of $299,250. (This is how Baby Boomers impacted the housing market for younger buyers.)

Historically high home prices are due in large part to a housing shortage. Fueled by zoning restrictions and high materials costs, new housing construction has not kept pace with demand, and partially as a result, the U.S. may have as many as 4.5 million fewer homes than it needs, according to some estimates.

In recent years, high housing costs have been compounded by mortgage rates, which are now hovering near their highest levels in a decade and a half. Borrowing costs aside, the typical home on the market is listed for about 5.3 times more than what the typical American household earns in a year. Still, location matters when it comes to the housing market, and in many parts of the country, home ownership remains far more affordable than it does across the U.S. as a whole.

Using county-level data from Realtor.com, 24/7 Wall St. identified America’s most affordable housing markets. We reviewed the median list price in February 2025 for over 3,000 U.S. counties and county equivalents and calculated the local housing affordability ratio using five year estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. To avoid statistical anomalies, only counties with at least 100 listed homes in February 2025 were considered.

Among the 45 counties on this list, the typical home for sale is listed for anywhere from 2.6 to just 1.4 times more than the local median household income. The majority of counties on this list are in the Midwest, including 15 in Illinois and five in Iowa. The 11 Northeast counties on this list are located exclusively in Pennsylvania and New York, while the six southern counties on this list are spread across Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia. (Here is a look at the states with the highest foreclosure rates.)

The relative affordability of homeownership in these places is due primarily to low list prices, rather than especially high incomes. Nationwide, the typical home on the market is listed for about $227 per square foot. Meanwhile, in every county on this list, the typical home is on the market for less than $150 per square foot, and in most cases, less than $100. Additionally, according to the latest five year ACS estimates, the typical American household earns $78,538 annually, more than the median household income in every county on this list — often by tens of thousands of dollars.

These are America’s most affordable housing markets.

Why It Matters

Supply constraints and rising demand have given way to a housing affordability crisis in the United States. Not even considering historically high mortgage rates, the typical American home has a median list price that is over five times more than what the typical household earns in a year. Notably, however, some parts of the country appear to have been largely spared from the housing crisis. In these places, home prices remain connected to incomes to a greater degree than is common in much of the rest of the country.