The financial strain of owning or renting a home in the United States reached historic levels in 2024, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nationwide, the bureau’s American Community Survey found that the median monthly owner costs for households with a mortgage climbed to $2,035 in 2024, up from $1,960 the year before after adjusting for inflation.
“One way we measure housing affordability is based on how much households spend on selected costs such as mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, utilities, and various fees,” said Jacob Fabina, a Census Bureau economist. “In 2024, the median percentage of income householders with a mortgage spent on these costs was 21.4%, which points to an increased burden on homeowners.”
Homeownership Costs Rising Faster Than Incomes
The Census Bureau reported that monthly owner costs increased by 3.8% from 2023 to 2024, a larger jump than the previous year’s 3.0% rise. The increase was fueled largely by mortgage payments and insurance premiums.
The financial squeeze was even sharper for people who purchased homes in 2024. According to the Washington Post, households that moved last year faced a median mortgage payment of $2,225 per month, the highest in decades. That figure is well above the national median mortgage payment of $1,521, and 20% higher than the typical payment for households that bought just three years earlier.
Meanwhile, homeowners in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia faced the steepest monthly costs in the nation, with medians ranging from $2,755 in Massachusetts to $3,181 in the District.
“Homes are completely unaffordable right now,” social media user Michael Datson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Building materials are being tariffed to hell and layoffs are accelerating.”
Free and Clear Ownership Grows
While mortgage burdens increased, more households managed to own their homes outright.
About 900,000 more homes were owned “free and clear” in 2024 compared with the year before, bringing the total to nearly 35 million. Vermont and New Mexico saw two of the largest percentage gains in fully paid-off homes.
Still, high additional fees add to the financial stress for many. Nearly a quarter of U.S. homeowners paid homeowners association or condo fees in 2024, at a national median of $135 per month.
Those costs were particularly widespread in Nevada, Florida, and Arizona, where nearly half of homeowners paid such fees.
“If they [were] working on affordable housing, rent, HOA, condo fees maybe there would not be so many homeless,” Memphis resident Sandra P. wrote on X. “Loan rates are through the roof and Americans get fleeced out of their money through multiple taxes, fees, insurance etc. This country is too expensive for the average person!”
Renters Struggle Too
Renters were not spared from the affordability crunch.
The Census Bureau reported that median gross rent—including utilities—increased 2.7%, reaching $1,487 in 2024.
The burden of rent remained heavy, with households spending a median of 31% of their income on rent.
Real Estate experts noted that renter costs rose even faster when inflation was considered, growing by 4.1% to a median of $1,307.
Income Gains Fall Behind Costs
Even as some states recorded modest increases in median household income, inflation neutralized much of that progress.
The Census Bureau reported that 29 states experienced inflation-adjusted income gains in 2024, but in many cases, those increases were not enough to offset escalating housing expenses.“The cost of homes, high mortgage rates, increasing insurance costs, increasing HOA fees — all of that is just producing a serious affordability pinch that’s keeping people out of the housing market, and keeping the homeownership rate stagnant,” said Joel Berner, a senior economist at Realtor.com.“It’s just kind of becoming more and more difficult for people to save up for buying a home.”