THIRD QUARTER SEES HOMES GROW LESS AFFORDABLE IN MUCH OF COUNTRY

In 99 percent of counties, homes less affordable for residents than has historically been the case; Home affordability grew worse in nearly half of counties compared to second quarter

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property data, and real estate analytics, today released its latest U.S. Home Affordability Report showing that median-priced single family homes and condos were less affordable than historical averages in 99 percent of counties with sufficient data to analyze for the third quarter of 2025.

That was the same high rate as last quarter. But as the nation hit a new record high median home price of $375,000 in the third quarter of 2025, affordability woes grew even worse in much of the country. Of the 580 counties in ATTOM's analysis, 44.7 percent (259) had worse affordability index ratings in the third quarter than in the second.

There has been some good news for prospective home buyers, however. Mortgage rates fell throughout the third quarter, with the average interest on a 30-year fixed rate loan dropping from 6.75 in mid-July to 6.26 percent in mid-September.

"The drop in mortgage rates will help some buyers keep pace with the rising cost of homes," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. "But the more favorable loan rates could also enable prices to keep rising and further extend this two-and-a-half-year streak we're in of homes being less affordable to the typical resident of an area than they historically have been."

Nationwide, the median value of a home has gone up 58 percent since the beginning of 2020 while typical wages have risen by 28 percent. The latest wage data available was for the first quarter of 2025

ATTOM determines affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed to meet major monthly home ownership expenses—including mortgage payments, mortgage insurance, property taxes and homeowner's insurance—on a median-priced single-family home and condo, assuming a 20 percent down payment and a 28 percent maximum "front-end" debt-to-income ratio. That required income is measured against annualized average weekly wage data from the BLS (see full methodology below).

In 79 percent (460) of the 580 counties in ATTOM's analysis, home ownership expenses exceeded 28 percent of a typical resident's wages, making owning a home unaffordable by standard guidelines. Those included counties encompassing some of the nation's largest cities, such as Los Angeles, CA; Chicago, IL; and Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, NY.

The most populous counties where home expenses accounted for less than 28 percent of a typical resident's wages were Harris County, TX (expenses for a median home required 23.3 percent of typical annual wages); Wayne County, MI (17.1 percent of wages); Philadelphia County, PA (20.1 percent of wages); Cuyahoga County, OH (23.1 percent of wages); and Allegheny County, PA (22.4 percent of wages).

View Q3 2025 U.S. Home Affordability Heat Map

Median home prices rose in three quarters of counties
The national median home price of $375,000 in the third quarter of 2025 was 2.0 percent higher than the previous quarter and 4.8 percent higher than the same time last year.

Median home prices rose year-over-year in 75.5 percent (438) of the 580 counties in ATTOM's analysis. The report includes counties with a population of at least 100,000 and at least 50 single-family home and condo sales and with sufficient data in the third quarter of 2025.

Among the 47 counties in the report with populations over 1 million, the biggest annual increase in median home prices were in Cuyahoga County, OH (up 13 percent); Fulton County, GA (up 11 percent); Honolulu County, HI (up 11 percent); Suffolk County, NY (up 7 percent); and Allegheny County, PA (up 7 percent).

Of those large counties, the largest annual drops in median home prices were in New York County, NY (down 3 percent); Sacramento County, CA (down 3 percent); Contra Costa County, CA (down 3 percent); Hillsborough County, FL (down 2 percent); and Harris County, TX (down 1 percent).

Home prices outpacing wages in half of counties
The median price of a home rose faster than the typical resident's wages in 49.8 percent (289) of the 580 counties in the report. That was up from last quarter, when home prices outstripped wage growth in only 34.9 percent of counties.

The largest counties where home values outpaced wage growth in the third quarter of 2025 were Cook County, IL; Kings County, NY; Bexar County, TX; Wayne County, MI; and Middlesex County, MA.

The largest counties where wages grew more than home prices were Los Angeles County, CA; Harris County, TX; Maricopa County, AZ; San Diego County, CA; and Orange County, CA.

Home expenses consume a third of typical American's wages
Nationwide, the typical monthly cost of mortgage payments, homeowners insurance, mortgage insurance, and property taxes was $2,123 in the third quarter of 2025. That was essentially the same as the previous quarter but up 6 percent from the same time last year.

Those expenses on the median single-family home and condos would have consumed 33.3 percent of the typical American's wages in the third quarter of 2025. That was up slightly from 33.2 percent in the previous quarter and 32.2 percent at the same time last year.

In 34.3 percent (199) of the 580 counties, home expenses on a median-priced home exceeded 43 percent of typical wages, a benchmark considered seriously unaffordable.

California and New York Counties lead way in unaffordability
California and New York counties led the nation when it came to unaffordability. Of the top 25 counties where home ownership required the highest percentage of a typical resident's wages in the third quarter, twelve were in California and five were in New York.

The counties where home expenses accounted for the largest share of income were Kings County, NY (113 percent of the typical resident's wages); Santa Cruz County, CA (111.8 percent of typical wages); Marin County, CA (101.3 percent of typical wages); Monterey County, CA (96.8 percent of typical wages); and Maui County, HI (94 percent of typical wages).

Besides Kings County, NY, the counties with populations over 1 million where home expenses accounted for the largest share of income were Orange County, CA (93.1 percent of typical wages); Queens County, NY (79 percent of typical wages); Nassau County, NY (78.3 percent of typical wages); and Alameda County, CA (72.7 percent of typical wages).

Pennsylvania counties top list of cheapest homes
In order to purchase the national median-priced single-family home and condo, at a cost of $375,000, and keep ownership expenses below 28 percent of their wages, a buyer would have had to earn an annualized income of $90,989 in the third quarter of 2025.

Of the top 25 counties where affording the median priced home required the highest annual income, 13 were in California and six were in New York.

The counties with the highest wage requirements to afford a median-priced home were San Mateo County, CA ($399,827 annual income); New York County, NY ($366,091 annual income); Santa Clara County, NY ($362,212 annual income); Marin County, CA ($340,989 annual income); and San Francisco County, CA ($310,718 annual income).

The counties with the lowest annual income requirements were Cambria County, PA ($17,695 annual income); Robeson County, NC ($29,520 annual income); Macon County, IL ($34,216 annual income); Schuylkill County, PA ($35,693 annual income); and Mercer County, PA ($35,892 annual income).

Affordability index below historic averages in 99 percent of counties
In 99 percent (574) of the 580 counties, ATTOM's analysis shows that median-priced homes were less affordable for residents than they have historically been in those regions.

Among the counties with more than 1 million residents, the lowest affordability index scores were in Wayne County, MI (affordability index of 61); Oakland County, MI (affordability index of 64); Fulton County, GA (affordability index of 64); Cuyahoga County, OH (affordability index of 66); and Franklin County, OH (affordability index of 66). An index score of less than 100 means homeownership is less affordable than the region's historical average.

Report Methodology
The ATTOM U.S. Home Affordability Index analyzed median home prices derived from publicly recorded sales deed data collected by ATTOM and average wage data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 580 U.S. counties with a combined population of 255 million during the third quarter of 2025. The affordability index is based on the percentage of average wages needed to pay for major expenses on a median-priced home with a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and a 20 percent down payment. Those expenses include property taxes, home insurance, mortgage payments and mortgage insurance. Average 30-year fixed interest rates from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey were used to calculate monthly house payments.

The report determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the amount of income needed for major home-ownership expenses on median-priced homes, assuming a loan of 80 percent of the purchase price and a 28 percent maximum "front-end" debt-to-income ratio. For example, affording the nationwide median home price of $375,000 in the third quarter of 2025 requires an annual wage of $90,989. That is based on a $75,000 down payment, a $300,000 loan and monthly expenses not exceeding the 28 percent barrier — meaning wage earners would not be spending more than 28 percent of their pay on mortgage payments, property taxes and insurance. That required income is more than the $76,440 average wage nationwide, based on the most recent average weekly wage data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, making a median-priced home nationwide unaffordable for average workers.

About ATTOM
ATTOM powers innovation across industries with premium property data and analytics covering 158 million U.S. properties—99% of the population. Our multi-sourced real estate data includes property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, neighborhood and geospatial boundary information, all validated through a rigorous 20-step process and linked by a unique ATTOM ID.

From flexible delivery solutions—such as Property Data APIs, Bulk File Licenses, ATTOM Cloud, Real Estate Market Trends—to AI-Ready datasets, ATTOM fuels smarter decision-making across industries including real estate, mortgage, insurance, government, and more.

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