The Number of Hours Americans Must Work To Afford Their Mortgages Across the US

Rising inflation rates have undoubtedly tightened the average American’s budget. The near-bursting inflation bubble also caused a noticeable uptick in real estate costs, leaving many prospective homeowners wondering how they’ll ever afford a home.

Now, nearly two years since the real estate market began heating up, prices are finally cooling down. Early signs of falling mortgage rates and down payments are encouraging many Americans to make a long-awaited jump into the housing market.

If you’re considering purchasing a home, you’ll first need to determine if current mortgage rates realistically fit into your budget. To help you see how much of your paycheck will go toward a new home, we’ve compared average wages and monthly mortgage payments by location. We then used this data to calculate how many hours you must work to afford a monthly mortgage, depending on national, state, and city demographics.

Key Findings

• On average, American homeowners must work 110 hours per month just to afford their monthly mortgages.
• The median home value is $355,852 – up 18.2% since July 2021.
• Average rates for a 30-year fixed mortgage have nearly doubled in the past year – from 2.86% in 2021 to 5.81% today.
• Hawaii ranks as the most expensive state for mortgages, requiring residents to work about 263 hours per month to afford their monthly payments of $6,030.
• West Virginia is the least expensive state for mortgages; residents only need to work 58 hours per month to afford a mortgage payment of $1,028. 
• San Francisco comes in first place as the most expensive metropolitan area; residents must work approximately 249 hours per month to pay their mortgages.

National Averages

Before jumping into state and city data, let’s look at national averages for hourly wages, home values, and monthly mortgage rates. 

Median Hourly Wage	Median Home Value	Monthly Mortgage Payment	Hours Worked to Afford Mortgage
$22	$355,852	$2,431	110

Based on data from Zillow’s Home Value Index report, the median home value in the United States currently stands at $355,852, with a monthly mortgage payment of $2,431. Considering that the average American earns $22 per hour, they must work approximately 110 hours per month to afford this payment.

To put that in perspective – 

One hundred and ten working hours is equivalent to a little under three 40-hour work weeks. This means you’ll work nearly three weeks out of the month just to afford your mortgage.

If you feel overwhelmed or disheartened by this statistic, know that you aren’t alone. Most American homeowners are spending an outrageous portion of their incomes on housing, whether that be mortgages or rentals. 

A well-known principle called the 28% rule states that you shouldn’t spend more than 28% of your monthly income on a mortgage. Current inflation trends have homeowners far exceeding this rule – sometimes handing over 64% of their monthly incomes on mortgage payments. Even the state with the lowest monthly mortgage rates violates this principle, with residents forking out 33.5% of their monthly incomes on house payments.

Hours of Work Needed to Afford a Mortgage Payment by State

The cost of living varies greatly by state, and housing prices are no exception. The table below shows each state ranked from most hours needed to pay off a mortgage to least. We also included median annual and hourly wages, home values, and average mortgage payments to provide a full picture of costs in each state.

Most Expensive States to Afford a Mortgage

Rank	State	Median Hourly Wage	Median Home Value	Monthly Mortgage Payment	Hours Needed to Afford Mortgage
1	Hawaii	$23	$909,000	$6,030	263
2	California	$23	$788,000	$5,241	227
3	Utah	$19	$572,000	$3,834	205
4	Idaho	$18	$472,000	$3,183	176
5	Nevada	$18	$467,000	$3,150	173
6	Washington	$24	$624,000	$4,172	172
7	Colorado	$23	$586,000	$3,925	170
8	Montana	$18	$453,000	$3,006	164
9	Arizona	$19	$448,000	$3,027	159
10	Oregon	$23	$524,000	$3,521	156
11	Florida	$18	$402,000	$2,727	150
12	Massachusetts	$28	$591,000	$3,957	141
13	New Jersey	$23	$470,000	$3,170	137
14	New Hampshire	$23	$436,000	$2,948	131
15	Rhode Island	$23	$437,000	$2,904	126
16	District of Columbia	$38	$707,000	$4,713	123
17	Georgia	$18	$319,000	$2,185	119
18	Maine	$21	$365,000	$2,443	118
19	North Carolina	$18	$322,000	$2,167	117
20	Maryland	$23	$406,000	$2,705	116
21	New York	$23	$407,000	$2,711	116
22	Texas	$19	$315,000	$2,122	113
23	Tennessee	$18	$303,000	$2,045	113
24	Virginia	$23	$375,000	$2,551	112
25	New Mexico	$18	$296,000	$2,035	112
26	South Carolina	$18	$295,000	$1,994	111
27	South Dakota	$18	$294,000	$1,998	110
28	Delaware	$22	$358,000	$2,440	109
29	Vermont	$23	$356,000	$2,427	108
30	Connecticut	$23	$361,000	$2,459	105
31	Wyoming	$22	$323,000	$2,174	99
32	Minnesota	$23	$334,000	$2,244	98
33	Alaska	$23	$328,000	$2,244	96
34	Nebraska	$19	$240,000	$1,642	88
35	Missouri	$18	$231,000	$1,611	88
36	Pennsylvania	$22	$266,000	$1,840	85
37	Wisconsin	$22	$265,000	$1,833	85
38	Louisiana	$18	$215,000	$1,507	84
39	Indiana	$18	$221,000	$1,546	84
40	North Dakota	$23	$277,000	$1,879	83
41	Illinois	$22	$267,000	$1,846	82
42	Kansas	$18	$207,000	$1,470	80
43	Alabama	$18	$207,000	$1,431	80
44	Ohio	$19	$212,000	$1,503	79
45	Kentucky	$18	$198,000	$1,411	78
46	Michigan	$22	$237,000	$1,651	76
47	Arkansas	$18	$179,000	$1,295	73
48	Iowa	$19	$192,000	$1,372	73
49	Oklahoma	$18	$182,000	$1,306	72
50	Mississippi	$17	$166,000	$1,200	71
51	West Virginia	$18	$139,000	$1,028	58

The median state in our dataset, New Mexico, is the 25th most expensive state for mortgages. New Mexico comes in hot with 112 hours of work needed to pay off a mortgage, a rate higher than the national average of 110 hours.

Based on our calculations, New Mexico homeowners must work this many hours to pay off a monthly mortgage of $2,035. This is 13 more hours than Wyoming homeowners, who must work to pay off a similar monthly mortgage of $2,174. 

The state with the most expensive mortgage is Hawaii, costing an average of $6,030 per month. Hawaii homeowners need to work approximately 263 hours just to afford this payment. 

West Virginians, on the other hand, only need to work 58 hours to afford a monthly mortgage payment of $1,028. However, the median home value in the state is just $139,000, which is about $770,000 less than Hawaii’s average home value.

Other state-by-state trends:

• California, Oregon, and Washington all rank in the top 10, making the West Coast the most expensive region for homeownership. West Coast residents must work more hours to afford a mortgage than homeowners in other areas.
• Meanwhile, several states in the Southeastern U.S. rank as the least expensive. According to our report, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Mississippi are in the bottom 12 states for mortgage rates. Residents in this area will work fewer hours to afford their mortgages, which range from approximately $1,200 to $1,500 per month. 

Hours of Work Needed to Afford a Mortgage Payment by City 

Now, we’ll look at how mortgage rates and hours worked vary across the top 50 major metropolitan areas. The table below displays the same data points as the previous set; however, it includes the most populated cities across the United States. Cities are generally more expensive than rural areas, meaning some areas may rank higher than their corresponding states.

Most Expensive Cities to Afford a Mortgage

Rank	City	Median Hourly Wage	Median Home Value	Monthly Mortgage Payment	Hours Needed to Afford Mortgage
1	San Francisco	$30	$1,550,000	$7,424	249
2	San Jose	$36	$1,900,000	$8,983	247
3	San Diego	$23	$965,900	$4,839	209
4	Los Angeles	$23	$825,700	$4,217	184
5	Miami	$19	$589,000	$3,073	165
6	Riverside/San Bernardino	$19	$585,000	$3,010	160
7	Austin	$23	$613,200	$3,424	152
8	Denver	$24	$695,800	$3,480	147
9	Seattle	$29	$818,900	$4,169	144
10	Portland	$23	$616,300	$3,174	136
11	New York City	$27	$621,000	$3,644	136
12	Boston	$29	$722,200	$3,889	134
13	Las Vegas	$18	$485,400	$2,405	133
14	Salt Lake City	$23	$605,000	$2,982	132
15	Sacramento	$23	$570,000	$2,994	128
16	Orlando	$18	$430,000	$2,286	127
17	Tampa	$18	$411,000	$2,179	119
18	Jacksonville	$18	$396,000	$2,120	116
19	Providence	$23	$457,700	$2,600	114
20	Nashville	$19	$418,500	$2,137	113
21	Phoenix	$22	$496,000	$2,453	112
22	Washington, D.C.	$30	$626,700	$3,311	112
23	San Antonio	$18	$349,500	$2,030	111
24	Raleigh	$23	$477,600	$2,452	109
25	Dallas	$22	$408,200	$2,376	109
26	Houston	$21	$357,200	$2,112	98
27	Chicago	$23	$370,100	$2,223	98
28	Charlotte	$22	$414,300	$2,126	98
29	Baltimore	$23	$396,200	$2,187	95
30	Virginia Beach	$19	$336,400	$1,808	93
31	Richmond	$22	$391,900	$2,031	92
32	Minneapolis	$23	$387,200	$2,139	92
33	Atlanta	$22	$379,700	$2,012	91
34	Milwaukee	$23	$364,600	$2,045	91
35	Philadelphia	$23	$346,300	$2,063	90
36	Hartford	$24	$337,400	$2,133	90
37	New Orleans	$18	$300,600	$1,644	90
38	Birmingham	$18	$318,800	$1,643	89
39	Memphis	$18	$288,000	$1,548	85
40	Indianapolis	$19	$303,300	$1,589	84
41	Kansas City	$22	$326,100	$1,791	82
42	Columbus	$22	$322,200	$1,800	80
43	Louisville	$19	$263,500	$1,422	76
44	Cincinnati	$20	$277,900	$1,539	75
45	Oklahoma City	$18	$231,900	$1,360	74
46	St Louis	$21	$258,000	$1,483	70
47	Buffalo	$22	$237,200	$1,513	68
48	Detroit	$23	$271,100	$1,550	68
49	Cleveland	$22	$225,600	$1,348	60
50	Pittsburgh	$22	$215,000	$1,269	57

California is home to the top four cities where residents must work the most hours to afford their mortgages. San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, and Los Angeles have higher home values, leading to higher monthly mortgage rates of $4,217 to $8,982. 

San Francisco is the most expensive metropolitan area for American homeowners. The average American living in San Francisco would need a full-time job (40 hours/week) plus a part-time job (20 hours/week) just to be able to make their mortgage payment.

Folks in San Francisco will have to work approximately 249 hours to afford their $7,424 monthly mortgages, while San Jose residents will work 247 hours – two hours less – to afford a higher rate of $8,982 per month. Despite the slight discrepancy in hours between the two cities, San Jose’s median home value is around $350,000 higher than San Francisco’s, so homes will likely take longer to pay off.

The major city with the lowest monthly mortgage payments is Pittsburgh. People in this city will need to work around 57 hours to afford a monthly mortgage of $1,268. Pittsburgh may be a good option if you’re interested in moving to a big city but want to spend the least amount of your income on a mortgage.

Conclusion

We know that paying a mortgage can be stressful, especially when rates have just recently started leveling off. Fortunately, you now have a solid perspective on how many hours you’ll typically work to pay off your home each month. With this data in mind, you can take steps toward planning a healthier budget, or consider a move to somewhere new. 

If you’re ready to move to an area with lower mortgage rates, or maybe you want to work fewer hours to afford a mortgage, we’ve got you covered. Here are 10 hacks to save you money on a move. If you’re in the middle of a mortgage and are seeking ways to speed up the process, read our guide to paying off your mortgage sooner.

Methodology

Our report looks at the median hourly wage in each state and the top 50 metropolitan areas as recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We then used Zillow to determine the median home listing price and calculate the average mortgage payment in each location. We factored in the national average mortgage interest rate, included the average down payment of 6%, and used a typical 30-year term loan. 

After calculating how many hours you’d need to work at the median salary to pay the median mortgage payment, we ranked each state and metropolitan area in order of working hours required to make a home payment.

Sources

• Zillow, “Compare Today’s Mortgage Rates.” Accessed September 1, 2022.
• Zillow, “Home Value Index.” Accessed September 1, 2022.
• US Bank, “What is the average down payment on a house1” Accessed September 1, 2022.
• Zillow, “Mortgage Calculator.” Accessed September 1, 2022.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.” Accessed September 1, 2022.