{"id":736396,"date":"2026-07-01T06:49:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T06:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736396\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T06:49:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T06:49:26","slug":"less-than-40-of-u-s-households-can-afford-a-starter-home-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736396\/","title":{"rendered":"Less than 40% of U.S. households can afford a starter home, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buying a first home remains out of reach for many Americans, with fewer than 4 in 10 non-homeowner households able to afford a typical starter home, a new LendingTree analysis<\/a> found.<\/p>\n

A typical starter home costs $200,000, with LendingTree defining entry-level homes as owner-occupied properties valued at the 25th percentile of the housing market. The analysis found that only 38% of households that don’t already own a home could afford one.<\/p>\n

Starter homes tend to be smaller and require more repairs or updates than higher-priced homes, but they often provide buyers with their first opportunity to build equity. Without access to entry-level homes, some Americans may be missing out on what is considered to be one of the biggest wealth-building opportunities.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another recent study found that 242 cities across the U.S. now have starter homes that cost at least $1 million<\/a>. The number of cities where entry-level properties cost at least seven figures has tripled since 2020, Zillow said earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Incomes falling short<\/p>\n

Non-homeowners need to earn just over $62,000 to afford a starter home. Still, their median salary is $55,000, leaving an income gap of more than $7,000, or about 13%, according to LendingTree’s analysis.<\/p>\n

Overcoming that deficit can be difficult to impossible, according to LendingTree chief consumer finance analyst Matt Schulz.<\/p>\n

“It’s safe to say that most people don’t get raises of $7,099 each year,” he said in a statement. “That means that bridging that gap might require a side hustle, a second job or other sacrifices. That’s tough, however, especially with how many other demands people already have on their time.”<\/p>\n

The gap is even larger in some states. In California, for example, the median non-homeowner household earns $72,900, or $67,776 less than the $140,676 needed to afford the average $482,000 starter home, according to LendingTree.<\/p>\n

“For so many, it feels completely out of reach,” Schulz said. “It’s a shame because homeownership can be a powerful wealth-building tool and a real stabilizing force for families. However, the numbers involved are so daunting that many people don’t see a realistic way to get into the market.”<\/p>\n

Where starter homes are more affordable<\/p>\n

In Rhode Island, the nation’s least affordable state for prospective starter-home buyers, just 16.5% of households can afford an entry-level home. Utah and Hawaii ranked second and third.<\/p>\n

Southern states, by contrast, offer a more affordable path to homeownership for households that rank it as a top priority.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Mississippi, nearly 62% can afford a starter home, followed by West Virginia (58%), Arkansas (54%) and Alabama (54%).<\/p>\n

\n Edited by<\/p>\n

Aimee Picchi<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

\n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buying a first home remains out of reach for many Americans, with fewer than 4 in 10 non-homeowner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101,1170],"class_list":["post-736396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}