Homes Are ‘Seriously Unaffordable’ in Nearly a Third of Counties
Housing affordability remains heavily strained across the United States, and housing is “seriously unaffordable” in about a third of all U.S. counties, according to a new report.
Real estate analytics firm ATTOM’s Q3 2026 U.S. Home Affordability Report found that major homeownership expenses exceeded historical affordability norms in 98% of the 583 U.S. counties analyzed in the third quarter, up 1% since the first quarter, when ATTOM last evaluated affordability at the beginning of this year.
“Affordability remained a challenge in the third quarter, even as some of the underlying factors moved in a favorable direction,” said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM. “Home prices declined nationally, and wage growth outpaced price growth in many counties, but those gains were not enough to meaningfully improve affordability across much of the country.”
ATTOM determined affordability for average wage earners by calculating the income needed to cover major monthly homeownership expenses—including mortgage payments, mortgage insurance, property taxes, and homeowners insurance—on a median-priced single-family home and condo.
ATTOM then used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to determine whether a homeowner could afford the property while keeping a front-end debt-to-income ratio of 28%, which is considered a healthy percentage of income to spend on housing expenses.
According to ATTOM’s calculations, 1 in 3 counties is now considered “seriously unaffordable,” meaning typical ownership costs consume more than 43% of an average local worker’s wages.
That’s despite the median sales price for single-family homes and condos falling to $368,000 in the third quarter of 2026, down 1% from the second quarter ($370,000) and 2% from the third quarter of 2025 ($375,000).
But climbing interest rates—which rose to 7.3% by the end of the third quarter—and rising inflation kept the housing market out of reach for many.
It’s not simply that home prices are too high; wages aren’t rising to keep up with the cost of living. In 467 of the 583 counties included in the analysis, major monthly home expenses exceeded the typical county resident’s wages.
Nationally, the average annual wage is $79,534. But to afford a home at the median price, you’d need to make $90,191, based on a 20% down payment and 28% front-end debt-to-income ratio.
Ownership costs outpace local wages
Not surprisingly, many of the “seriously unaffordable” counties were in California and New York, where home prices have historically risen faster than wages.
California accounted for 12 of the top 25 counties in the third quarter where homeownership expenses consumed the greatest share of the typical resident’s wages. Still, New York’s Kings County was the most unaffordable county in the country when housing costs were measured against wages.
In Kings County, which includes Brooklyn and parts of Long Island—where the median home price is now $1.1 million—expenses for a median-priced home consumed 114.1% of a resident’s wages.
California’s Santa Cruz County, which is adjacent to Silicon Valley and home to many tech workers, also saw housing costs exceed wages. There, home prices actually fell 5% year over year, but remain elevated. The median sales price in the third quarter was $1,105,000, and residents spent an average of 105.5% of their wages on housing, ATTOM found.
Elsewhere in California, Marin County workers spent an average of 102.4% of their typical wages on housing, while Orange County residents spent 92.6% of their earnings on housing-related expenses. In Monterey County, which is adjacent to Santa Cruz County and also popular among tech workers, residents spent an average of 91.8% of their wages on housing.
When it came to the most unaffordable large metro areas, Los Angeles County, CA (69.9%), San Diego County, CA (69.6%), Maricopa County, AZ (37.0%), and Cook County, IL (30.2%), rounded out the list.
When it comes to the counties where you’d need the highest annual income to afford a median-priced home under the 28% debt-to-income affordability guideline, New York County, NY, which includes Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, topped the list. In the third quarter, the median home price was $1,675,000, and you would need to make $409,992 to afford a home there comfortably.
Other counties requiring the highest incomes include San Mateo County, CA, where you’d need an annual income of $381,550; Santa Clara County, CA, where you’d need to bring in $363,242 a year; and San Francisco County, CA, where you’d need to make a salary of $361,805 to hit the 28% debt-to-income ratio.
Texas remains a bright spot
While the overall affordability picture is bleak, some areas stand out. Several Texas counties, including Harris County, Dallas County, and Bexar County, remain well under the 28% affordability threshold.
Earlier this year, Realtor.com ranked Houston, in Harris County, as one of the most affordable metros in the country. It earned high marks for both overall affordability and its homebuilding permit-to-population ratio, which measures how many homes are being built relative to the city’s population.
Dallas, located in Dallas County, similarly scored high—ranking 15th among metros—while San Antonio, in Bexar County, ranked 35th.
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