Dream of home ownership under threat as costs jump far past median incomes

For generations, buying a home was the surest ticket to middle-class security — a way to build wealth, plant roots, and pass something down to the next generation.

Today, that promise is under siege.

In 2024, the annual income needed to cover monthly payments on a median-priced home jumped to a whopping $126,670, data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies showed — 60% up from just three years earlier. 4

Over the same time span, US median household income rose only 1.3% — to $80,610.

“There’s no rush to be a homeowner given that differential,” Laurie Goodman, founder of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute, told Bloomberg .

And the stunning financial gap is just one of many issues, tilting the math of buying against households across the country.