Homeownership is Slipping Out of Reach in This State Faster Than Anywhere Else, New Report Finds

Homeownership is slipping further out of reach across the country, and one state has experienced a particularly dramatic decline. Once considered a relatively affordable alternative to America’s expensive coastal housing markets, it has now recorded the nation’s steepest drop in homeownership affordability over the past five years.

That state is Ohio, where jobs that once provided a feasible path to buying a house are no longer enough in some communities. Even firefighters and postal workers are finding themselves priced out of homes their salaries could have supported just a few years earlier.

The change has been staggering. In 2020, roughly two-thirds of the occupations studied could afford a typically priced Ohio home. By 2025, that figure had fallen to barely one-quarter.

And the problem isn’t limited to buying a house. Renting has also become less affordable, leaving many workers with fewer housing options.

Workers Priced Out as Ohio Home Affordability Falls

According to an Oct. 12 announcement from the National Housing Conference, Ohio recorded a 40.97-percentage-point decline in homeownership affordability between 2020 and 2025, the largest statewide decrease in its national analysis.

The nonprofit’s annual Priced Out: When a Good Job Isn’t Enough report examined nearly 300 occupations across 390 metropolitan areas, comparing wages with local housing costs and assuming a 10% down payment. Five Ohio metropolitan areas ranked among the country’s 25 largest affordability declines: Mansfield, Cleveland, Springfield, Toledo, and Akron.

Mansfield experienced an especially dramatic shift. In 2020, 82% of tracked occupations could afford a typically priced home there. Five years later, that figure had fallen to just 30%.

Home prices help explain the difference. A typical Mansfield home rose in value from $115,041 to $188,863, while the annual income needed to afford it more than doubled, reaching $62,931.

According to the research, firefighters and postal carriers who could afford a typical Mansfield home in 2020 could no longer do so in 2025. Executive secretaries and loan officers were also among those priced out.

Rising Costs Put the American Dream Further Out of Reach

The problem extends far beyond Ohio.

Nationally, just 14% of the occupation-and-metropolitan-area combinations examined could afford a typically priced home in 2025, according to the National Housing Conference‘s findings.

And workers don’t necessarily need low salaries to find themselves priced out. Among occupations that lost the ability to buy during the five-year period, the average annual salary was $70,283.

Renters are feeling the pressure, too. How so? In Ohio, the share of tracked occupations able to afford a two-bedroom rental fell from 77% in 2020 to 69% in 2025, as reported by Ohio Capital Journal.

These findings do not exist in a vacuum; housing advocates are calling for action, warning that rising wages alone won’t be enough to address the affordability crisis.

Specifically, National Housing Conference President and CEO David M. Dworkin said improving wages won’t be enough to overcome the shortage of affordable housing. He urged policymakers to support construction and preservation of homes near workplaces, streamline unnecessary delays, and coordinate housing policies across federal, state, and local governments.

Ohio’s relatively affordable reputation hasn’t spared it from rising housing costs. Over just five years, the gap between what workers earn and what it takes to buy a home has widened considerably.