2026 Housing Affordability Report Cards for All 50 States

Realtor.com just ranked every state in the country on housing affordability and homebuilding, and the divide between America’s most and least affordable markets is getting wider.

In the second annual Affordability & Homebuilding Report Cards, Indiana claimed the top spot with a score of 76.3 while New York landed dead last at 8.5 out of 100.

The report grades each state on two factors: 

1. Affordability: how much of a median earner’s income a median-priced home requires
2. Homebuilding pace: whether the state is permitted enough new housing to meet demand

Only 11 states can say a median-priced home is affordable to a median earner under the 30%-of-income rule, and all but one of them are in the South or Midwest. 

Here’s what the data shows and how to use it with clients.

How Realtor.com Graded Every State

The affordability side of the grade draws on two measures:

• REALTORS® Affordability Score: Ranges from 0 to 2 and reflects how many listings fall within reach of households at a given income level. A score above 1.0 means the median home is affordable to the median earner.
• Share of income required: The standard benchmark is 30% of monthly income. Any state where the median home requires more than that from a median earner is considered unaffordable by the report’s grading.

The building side comes down to two factors as well:

• Permit-to-population ratio: How much of the nation’s new housing a state is producing relative to its share of the population. A ratio above 1.0 means a state is building more than its population share demands.
• New construction premium: The price difference between newly built homes and existing ones. A negative premium means new homes are actually cheaper than the existing inventory in that state.

This is the second annual edition of the report, which makes the year-over-year movement in the rankings meaningful. States that climbed did so by improving on at least one of these four metrics without letting the others slip.

The States at the Top and What They’re Doing Right

Indiana took the No. 1 spot this year with a score of 76.3, jumping from No. 4 in last year’s inaugural rankings. Iowa held strong at No. 2. 

Together they represent the two most affordable states in the country right now:

1. Indiana: Median listing price $295,810; mortgage payments require 28.3% of monthly income; REALTORS® Affordability Score 0.89
2. Iowa: Median listing price $282,886; lowest share of income required to buy at 25.4%; highest REALTORS® Affordability Score in the country at 0.96

Three states are producing new housing well above their population share, and two of them are delivering newly built homes that actually cost less than existing inventory:

1. South Carolina (No. 3): Permit-to-population ratio 1.96 vs. 1.63% population share; new construction premium -5.7%
2. Texas (No. 4): 14.6% of all building permits issued nationally vs. 9.28% population share
3. North Carolina (No. 5): Permit-to-population ratio 1.84 vs. 3.28% population share; new construction premium -1.5%

The common thread across all five top-ranked states is that built at pace and kept homes within reach of median earners at the same time, which is exactly what Realtor.com’s grading rewards.

Here’s how Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com explained the rankings: 

“A year ago, we launched this report to give policymakers a clear benchmark for progress at the state level. What the 2026 update shows is that the states making real headway are the ones doing both things well: keeping homes within reach of today’s median earners and building enough new supply to meet demand.

“Indiana’s rise to the top of the class is a textbook example of that balanced approach. Meanwhile, the bottom of the rankings has barely budged, which shows how deep these structural challenges run.”

The top 10 metros by their total scores for affordability and homebuilding: 

1. Indiana (Total score: 76.3)
2. Iowa (75.8)
3. South Carolina (75.2)
4. Texas (71)
5. North Carolina (68.6)
6. Nebraska (68.6)
7. Delaware (66.1)
8. South Dakota (65.8)
9. Arkansas (65.2)
10. Oklahoma (64.5) 

The Regional Divide: Every A and B Grade Belongs to the South or Midwest

The regional divide that showed up in last year’s inaugural report has only gotten more obvious. The South and Midwest are pulling away from the rest of the country, and the Northeast is at the bottom of every meaningful category.

Average scores and rankings by region:

• Midwest: Average score 60.9; average rank 16
• South: Average score 60.4; average rank 16
• West: Average score 41.8; average rank 35
• Northeast: Average score 30.0; average rank 43

All 6 F grades went to states in the West and Northeast, and all but one of the 11 states where a median-priced home is affordable to a median earner are in the South or Midwest.

As Hale observed:

“With a nationwide housing shortage still near 4 million homes, the gap between America’s best and toughest housing markets isn’t narrowing, it’s growing.”

Senior economist Joel Berner pointed to the structural advantages driving the top-ranked states:

“The states at the top of our rankings benefit from available land, lower regulatory barriers, and a building culture that prioritizes volume and accessibility. What’s particularly encouraging is seeing states like South Carolina and North Carolina deliver newly built homes that actually cost less than existing inventory. The challenge now is getting more states to replicate that model before the gap becomes impossible to close.”

The states at the bottom have been there for two consecutive years, and the data points to regulatory barriers and building costs as the reasons why.

The Bottom of the List 

New York finished dead last for the second consecutive year, and the numbers explain why. 

A median listing price of $668,173 pushes mortgage payments to 55.2% of a typical household’s monthly income, nearly double the 30% affordability threshold. 

The state’s permitting situation made it worse in 2026, with a 17% year-over-year decline in permits and a ratio of 0.45 against a 5.85% population share.

The other five F-grade states, all carrying that grade for the second straight year:

1. Massachusetts (No. 50): Median listing price $763,660; REALTORS® Affordability Score 0.50; new construction premium 37.2%
2. Rhode Island (No. 49): Median listing price $563,235; REALTORS® Affordability Score 0.47; new construction premium 35.0%
3. Hawaii (No. 48): Median listing price $767,360; REALTORS® Affordability Score 0.49; new construction premium 31.1%
4. California (No. 47): Median listing price $742,305; permit share 7.34% vs. 11.51% population share; REALTORS® Affordability Score 0.47
5. Connecticut (No. 46): Median listing price $518,892; permit share 0.49% vs. 1.08% population share; new construction premium 72.0%

Three states posted the largest single-year drops in the entire dataset, each falling 8 spots: 

1. Alabama
2. Maryland
3. New Jersey

If you’re working in any of these markets, this data gives you hard numbers to share when clients ask why inventory is so tight or why prices haven’t budged. 

Pull up the report card for your state and keep it handy.

How to Use This Data in Client Conversations

Realtor.com’s full state rankings are public, which means you can pull up your state’s score and grade before any client conversation and know exactly where you stand relative to the rest of the country.

BAMx members can take this data directly into the AI Script Advisor and get word-for-word language from the BAMx Roleplaying Masterminds with Byron Lazine, Lisa Chinatti, and Tom Toole, based on their state’s ranking data. 

The following script gets the conversation started whether your state is in the top three or the top 10:

“Hey [Name], quick thing I wanted to pass along. Realtor.com just ranked our state as one of the top three [or top 10] most affordable markets in the country for 2026. Which means your dollar goes further here than almost anywhere else right now. Does that change how you’re thinking about timing at all?”

This is a classic OFQ script (opening + fact + question). One strong data point, zero pressure, plus one question that opens the door to motivation without pushing. 

If they engage, go straight into Game Plan framing. 

“Has anyone walked you through what it actually takes to buy in this market right now?” 

If your buyer pushes back with, 

“That’s great, but from what I’m seeing, it’s still unaffordable.” 

Here’s where the ACA framework comes in: 

• Acknowledge their reality
• Compliment
• Ask a clarifying question

Here’s the script: 

“Totally fair. And honestly, that’s the right way to think about it because your budget is your reality, not a ranking on a website. Can I ask though, when you say unaffordable, is it the monthly payment, the down payment, or both? Because the fix looks pretty different depending on which one it is.”

Acknowledge their frustration, compliment the fact that they’re thinking critically about their own situation, then ask the clarifying question.

One more scenario: if your state’s total score puts it in the top 50% but below the top 10 (or 20), it’s probably best not to lead with the ranking. Try this instead:

“I’m not going to oversell you on our statewide numbers because honestly they don’t tell your story. What matters is what’s happening in the specific neighborhoods you’re looking at. Can I pull together a breakdown of what comparable homes are actually selling for right now so you’re working with real numbers instead of headlines?”

Redirecting to hyper-local data is more useful and more credible than a state ranking anyway. And this script would work for states in the bottom 50%, too.

This is just a taste of what AI Script Advisor can do to help you share housing market news that impacts the buyers and sellers in your database. 

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