Tim Henderson, stateline.org
Like many medium-income workers, public school teachers Julia and Scott Whitnar didn’t expect to become homeowners in their early 30s. Especially in California.
“We didn’t feel homeownership was on the card, but we did that!” Julia Whitnall said. “We are very happy.”
The couple moved to a $509,000 two-bedroom home in Ripon, east of San Francisco in the Central Valley area, on May 16th.
It wasn’t easy. Despite earning a relatively high $140,000 from nearby jobs, they had to compromise on size and do the extra work to pull it apart at summer camp. They then had to be patient as the seller struggled to find a new home.
High interest rates and high prices in the still competitive housing market continue to make it tough for first-time buyers, those with good but moderate incomes.
At the national level, the typical households of households making between $75,000 and $100,000 (teachers, nurses, skilled trade workers in many states) face a lack of homes that can afford it. This figure showed an encouraged increase of 20% in homes for sale, both affordable and affordable, according to a new study by the National Association of Realtors and Realtor.com, based on the list for March this year compared to 2024.
Despite more homes for sale, these medium-income buyers have been struggling to find a more affordable home than in 2019, when reports called “middle and middle-income buyers” were about half of the homes in the market were affordable for them. This year, they can only afford 21.2% of the homes in the market. According to the report, there is a slight improvement compared to 20.8% in 2024.
We also found that some states have improved affordability for people in the $75,000-$100,000 income range. But many states aren’t.
The biggest affordable price gaps are in California, Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts and Montana, where such households can pay less than 12% of the homes in the market. In contrast, they could afford about half of the homes for sale in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia.
Realtor reports that there are progress in states that include Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida and Utah, which add more homes at medium price points.
A balanced market
The report says the US needs 416,000 sales for under $255,000 to regain the housing market along with medium-income families nationwide.
“In many places, there is a huge discrepancy between income levels and what can be purchased for moderately-income families,” says Nadia Evangelu, senior economist and director of real estate research at the National Association of Realtors.
“We’re not in crisis mode anymore, but we’re still very far from where we need it. We can’t fix it overnight. It’ll take years,” Evangelu said.
Heather, who asked not to share his last name for privacy reasons, said he couldn’t even consider buying a house near work in Long Island, New York. She earns over $100,000 as a registered nurse, and her family earns $170,000 from her husband’s job in building maintenance. However, the three children pay $4,400 in rent and $2,000 in monthly daycare costs, and they are paying for their salary.
“We can’t even afford to buy a small car repair, let alone a home mortgage,” Heather said in Ronkonkoma, Suffolk County. Their job puts her and her husband at risk of a pandemic that her neighbors avoided in remote work, she said. But she now feels she is in a financially worse state than in 2019, and she thinks she is far apart.
“All our hard work feels like it’s nothing,” Heather said. “It’s disappointing that we can’t afford to live where we grew up, but that’s the reality we face.”
Some states may still be affordable shelters.
Ashley and Tristan Jonas bought a $252,000 home in northwest Ohio after being locked out by a three-year luxury or full-cash offer. Ashley Jonas, 32, was trained as a teacher, but now works skilled trading as a project coordinator for a countertop company, with the couple making roughly $140,000 in their work as a computer programmer for Tristan Jonas.
“We happened to be on the market at the right time in 2025,” Ashley Jonas said. “We’re bidding on this house just like (President Donald) Trump announced tariffs. I think a lot of people have coin wallets. We didn’t.”
Help for teachers
Teachers generally fewer than nurses or fewer than workers are especially pressured. Some states facing teacher shortages at local schools are working to raise wages. And more and more, some schools and hospitals are offering housing to seduce more teachers and nurses.
“We lose so many teachers because we can’t find a home here,” said Autumn Rivera, a 20-year teaching veteran and 2022 Colorado Teacher of the Year. Despite her experience and qualifications, Rivera said she can’t even contemplate buying a townhouse in the country town of Glenwood Springs where she teaches.
Prices for these townhouses now start in the $700,000 range, more than double the price they had when they last considered buying in 2019. Rivera feels lucky to be able to embrace a reasonable rent by sharing the home with the owner, but many of her roaring folk school teachers need affordable rents for the 117 apartments offered by the district. The district hopes that the apartments will allow teachers to save for their homes. They also built 14 homes for staff with Habitat for Humanity and Holy Cross Energy.
One way to make housing more feasible for teachers more feasible is to pay more. This is a strategy that has paid off in New Mexico. This is one of the few bright spots in teachers’ different reports on not being able to afford housing, published this month by the National Council on Teacher Quality, research and advocacy groups.
The first teachers in Albuquerque had a 60% jump in home prices, according to the report, as wages increased by 60% between 2019 and 2025. The report praised state law that increased teacher salaries, including starting salaries, by $10,000.
“We’re dealing with the issue of being able to live in the community where teachers actually work,” says Democrat Joy Garratt, who sponsored the new law signed in April, sets the minimum salary for teachers on July 1.
Detroit schools also raised wages of up to 50% since 2019 for advanced degree teachers, roughly the same as home prices, according to a National Council on Teacher Quality report. Albuquerque and Detroit are listed in the report on the most affordable locations for teachers to start living.
However, nationwide, on average, experienced teachers who started in 2019 can afford a home less than they did when they started, according to the report.
“Teacher salaries have increased by 24% over the past five years, and while some say it’s a solid growth, the increase in homes for purchases has increased by 47%,” said Heather Peske, president of the organization.
“Home prices are important to attract and maintain good teachers,” Pesuke said. “People leave their professions and try to find something that costs enough housing.
Stateline Reporter Tim Henderson can be contacted at the followingson@stateline.org.
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