In 2020, an income of $66,000 was enough to cover payments on the median priced home in the US.
By the end of 2025, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, that number had climbed past $120,000.
Wages did not nearly double in five years.
The house is roughly the same house.
What changed is how much of your income a currency built to lose value now takes, just to afford the same house.
Source: 

Joint Center for Housing Studies
Ten Takeaways from the 2026 State of the Nation’s Housing
