The deepening housing crisis in America has reached a critical tipping point, with half of all U.S. workers now unable to afford adequate housing according to a report by the National Housing Conference. Titled “Priced Out: When a good job isn’t enough,” the study reveals alarming statistics across 390 metropolitan areas from 2019 to 2024. Homebuyers face unprecedented challenges as the income required to purchase homes has doubled in 125 metropolitan statistical areas over just five years, pushing the American dream further out of reach for millions of families.

First-time buyers are particularly affected by this affordability crisis, with 176 metropolitan areas now requiring six-figure salaries to purchase a home with a 10% down payment. The situation for mortgages has become especially dire as rising interest rates combine with soaring home prices to create a storm of unaffordability. Case studies from five metropolitan areas—Asheville, Boise, Houston, Tampa, and Seattle—illustrate how the crisis has transformed previously accessible housing markets into exclusionary zones where even well-paying professions can no longer afford basic housing.

The Asheville case study paints a particularly stark picture of regional impacts, where construction site workers earning less than $59,840 cannot afford even a one-bedroom apartment. Civil engineers in the area, despite earning nearly $100,000 annually, find homeownership increasingly unattainable. The income required to purchase a typical home in Asheville has more than doubled in five years, jumping from $70,678 in 2019 to an astounding $143,507 in 2024, making homeownership impossible for all but the highest earners.

Similar patterns emerge across other studied regions. In Boise, home prices surged over 60% in five years, while Houston, despite high rates of homebuilding, saw only 28 of 286 occupations able to afford home purchases with 10% down payments. The situation in Seattle and Tampa is even more dire—not a single tracked occupation in Seattle can afford to buy a home in 2024, while Tampa shows only 11 of 284 occupations earning enough to access homeownership. These statistics demonstrate how previously affordable markets have transformed into areas where basic housing security has become a luxury.

The root causes of this crisis, as identified in the report, form a troubling trinity: decades of underbuilding that has restricted housing supply, rising interest rates making mortgages more expensive, and wage stagnation preventing workers from keeping pace with housing costs. The real estate market’s dramatic transformation has left both homebuyers and renters struggling, with nearly half (47%) of tracked occupations unable to afford a two-bedroom apartment, compared to 38% in 2019. For first-time buyers, the path to homeownership has become increasingly narrow as traditional financing options prove inadequate.

David M. Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, underscores the severity of the situation: “This is no longer a problem we can frame as affecting only certain groups or regions. From big cities to small towns, Americans who work hard, earn solid incomes, and contribute to their communities are finding that neither renting nor buying is within reach.” He warns that without addressing supply shortages, reforming zoning, and investing in housing at all income levels, we face “a fundamental threat to the health and sustainability of our economy.” Even specialized programs for Veterans and other groups cannot fully counteract the broader market forces creating this nationwide affordability crisis.

To find out how you may be able to buy a home, please reach out to 21 year mortgage veteran Mac Church at mchurch@acmllc.com or www.MacChurchHomeLoans.com