I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this information. I don’t know what the median income is or what the median come cost is. And different states have different state taxes, and property taxes, and all sorts of things…
ScarletRobin31415 on
NYC automatically skews the rest of NY.
JoshGordon10 on
It’s much more useful to show this by county or zip code. Manhattan =/= Upstate NY, Eastern MA =/= Western MA, etc.
The whole country view in that case isn’t super useful as it’s too much to take in all at once, but you can zoom in on regions of the US so the individual county/zip are discernable.
neo_sporin on
i get it and the complaints…but wtf is up with Montana…..that one seems a bit wonky
Ya_i_just on
Its just raw Average price of house v untaxed gross wages.
Should use AGI instead due to different income taxes per state (incld. City/muni).
Should include taxes on property as different locations have different tax rates for purchase.
Does this include homes? Town homes? Apartments for sale? Condos? Land? Or just homes…
If you want to go crazy, show by county rather than by state. There you’ll actually see true affordability as per location rather than state. Last time I checked Boston has higher prop taxes than say… Lubbock TX
themodgepodge on
Median *listing* price can get a bit wonky. Slow markets can affect what homes are for sale (and which ones are taken down and re-listed many times). Some markets consistently sell at 10-20% above asking, while others are now going for below asking.
I know median value of *all* homes has its own challenges, like varying methodology both from commercial sources like Zillow and varying approaches to valuation from counties, but if the chart title says “a median home,” I would argue that’s different from “a median home *listing*.”
Also, a perennial recommendation: avoid red-green color scales. A decent chunk of the population cannot adequately distinguish between the two. I know red=bad, green=good is pretty ingrained in us, but something like orange-blue or one of the many perceptually uniform scales available out there now is more broadly accessible.
balbiza-we-chikha on
PA is definitely some of the best bang for your buck you can get, even Philly and Pittsburgh are affordable
Lumpus-Maximus on
Hence the mad rush to move to Kansas.
BrettHullsBurner on
One of my favorite thing about map posts on this sub is that if something makes democrat leaning states look bad/negative, all the upvoted posts will usually be about flaws in the data and/or representation (usually very valid, tbf). But if it’s one of those “oh it’s that map again, just with a different title” all the top comments will usually be political in nature and instead focus on ripping on the republican leaning states.
Just a funny trend I’ve noticed over the years.
turb0_encapsulator on
the fact that the very bottom of this chart is the recommended guideline is so fucked.
painpwnz on
wow US is cheap.. should probably move there
norm009 on
It would be great to see this map by county. The NYC metro area skews the NY state numbers by quite a bit.
Monster_Dumps_2026 on
WTF is up with housing in Montana? Or is it low salaries?
ardroaig on
Off topic but the color scheme made me realize western Montana looks like a face peeking into Idaho.
Sure-Astronomer4364 on
Love this standardization!
roejastrick01 on
Now try, “How many years of salary does a home *at least as nice as your parents’ home* cost?” The lightest color would be dark orange.
![2025 American Housing Costs: How many years of (untaxed) salary does a home cost in your state? [OC]](https://www.byteseu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/l5ja5fotk5cg1-1536x556.png "2025 American Housing Costs: How many years of (untaxed) salary does a home cost in your state? [OC]")
17 Comments
Source: [FRED](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/) (median home listing price, median household income)
Tools: Python, Pandas, Matplotlib, FRED api
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with this information. I don’t know what the median income is or what the median come cost is. And different states have different state taxes, and property taxes, and all sorts of things…
NYC automatically skews the rest of NY.
It’s much more useful to show this by county or zip code. Manhattan =/= Upstate NY, Eastern MA =/= Western MA, etc.
The whole country view in that case isn’t super useful as it’s too much to take in all at once, but you can zoom in on regions of the US so the individual county/zip are discernable.
i get it and the complaints…but wtf is up with Montana…..that one seems a bit wonky
Its just raw Average price of house v untaxed gross wages.
Should use AGI instead due to different income taxes per state (incld. City/muni).
Should include taxes on property as different locations have different tax rates for purchase.
Does this include homes? Town homes? Apartments for sale? Condos? Land? Or just homes…
If you want to go crazy, show by county rather than by state. There you’ll actually see true affordability as per location rather than state. Last time I checked Boston has higher prop taxes than say… Lubbock TX
Median *listing* price can get a bit wonky. Slow markets can affect what homes are for sale (and which ones are taken down and re-listed many times). Some markets consistently sell at 10-20% above asking, while others are now going for below asking.
I know median value of *all* homes has its own challenges, like varying methodology both from commercial sources like Zillow and varying approaches to valuation from counties, but if the chart title says “a median home,” I would argue that’s different from “a median home *listing*.”
Also, a perennial recommendation: avoid red-green color scales. A decent chunk of the population cannot adequately distinguish between the two. I know red=bad, green=good is pretty ingrained in us, but something like orange-blue or one of the many perceptually uniform scales available out there now is more broadly accessible.
PA is definitely some of the best bang for your buck you can get, even Philly and Pittsburgh are affordable
Hence the mad rush to move to Kansas.
One of my favorite thing about map posts on this sub is that if something makes democrat leaning states look bad/negative, all the upvoted posts will usually be about flaws in the data and/or representation (usually very valid, tbf). But if it’s one of those “oh it’s that map again, just with a different title” all the top comments will usually be political in nature and instead focus on ripping on the republican leaning states.
Just a funny trend I’ve noticed over the years.
the fact that the very bottom of this chart is the recommended guideline is so fucked.
wow US is cheap.. should probably move there
It would be great to see this map by county. The NYC metro area skews the NY state numbers by quite a bit.
WTF is up with housing in Montana? Or is it low salaries?
Off topic but the color scheme made me realize western Montana looks like a face peeking into Idaho.
Love this standardization!
Now try, “How many years of salary does a home *at least as nice as your parents’ home* cost?” The lightest color would be dark orange.