Sacramento, CA, Has a Significant Shortage of Homes for Middle-Income Earners

The dream of finding an affordable home can feel increasingly out of reach for many prospective buyers, especially those navigating the complexities of today’s housing market.

This ongoing struggle is highlighted in the 2026 Housing Mismatch Report, a collaborative analysis from Realtor.com®® and the National Association of Realtors®. The report underscores that while the housing market might appear robust on paper, the actual homes available for sale are often priced beyond what many people can realistically afford.

Middle-income households, in particular, continue to face the largest supply gap. Buyers earning around $75,000 can currently afford homes priced up to about $261,140.

Homes priced below this point currently account for only about 23% of listings nationally, compared with about 44% in a balanced market.

This represents an effective shortage of about 311,000 listings within reach of these buyers. Thirty-six percent of metros fall below 70% alignment, meaning many lower- and middle-income households face a significant shortage of listings within their price range.

This issue is particularly pronounced in Sacramento, CA, which faces a significant shortage of homes for middle-income earners.

Sacramento, CA, faces a significant housing shortage for middle-income earners

The housing market in Sacramento is classified as having a “Significant Shortage” of homes for this crucial demographic.

In March 2026, only 4.30% of listings in Sacramento were affordable for middle-income households. This marks a slight improvement from March 2025, when the share of affordable listings stood at 3%.

Despite this modest gain, the market is still missing an estimated 2,266 affordable listings that middle-income buyers desperately need.

The report also introduces the Listing-Income Alignment Score, a new metric that offers an important reframe from how affordability is often discussed. The Alignment Score is a metric that shows how well the current distribution of home listings matches the distribution of household incomes in a given market.

A score of 100% means listings are distributed proportionally across income levels, while a lower score means the available listings do not match what local buyers can afford.

For Sacramento, the March 2026 Listing-Income Alignment Score was 61.30%. This score reflects the considerable gap between available homes and what middle-income buyers can afford in the region.

While this score represents a positive change of +10.7 compared to 2025, it still shows a decline of 3.7 when looking back to 2019. These figures underscore the persistent challenges and the need for continued efforts to address the housing mismatch in the Sacramento market.

Experts weigh in on solving the housing mismatch in Sacramento, CA

Addressing the housing mismatch requires more than just an increase in overall inventory; it demands a strategic focus on homes at the right price points.

Experts emphasize that a true recovery hinges on making housing accessible to a wider range of income levels.

“The U.S. housing market continues to face a structural mismatch between the homes available for sale and what buyers can afford,” says Nadia Evangelou, NAR principal economist and director of real estate research.

“Too much of the inventory available today remains concentrated at higher price points, leaving a shortage of options for entry-level and middle-income buyers.”

“The data makes clear that more inventory alone won’t be enough to unlock the housing market,” Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, adds. “A true recovery requires homes at the right price points.”

“Until the supply of entry-level and middle-market homes grows to meet demand, many buyers will continue to find the market out of reach despite headline improvements in affordability and inventory.”

Generated with AI assistance and finalized through human editorial oversight by Dina Sartore-Bodo and Gabriella Iannetta.