In most of the country, young Americans are struggling to climb the property ladder. College debt, slow wage growth, and skyrocketing home prices make saving for a home nearly impossible for Gen Z and Millennials. But that trend is reversing in some parts of the country.
A recent NAR calculation of U.S. Census data revealed that from 2023 to 2024, several major markets added a notable number of homeowners under 35. So what’s behind the increase? Zoocasa analyzed median home price and income data to better understand what’s contributing to these emerging young homeowner markets.
Midwest and Southern Cities Offer the Best Markets for Young Homeowners
The South and the Midwest are home to 13 cities that have experienced the most significant increases in homeowners under the age of 35. Dallas, Little Rock, Baton Rouge, and Akron lead this list. Just Dover, DE, and Fort Collins, CO are situated outside of these regions.
On the surface, these cities have little in common besides geography. For instance, Dallas, which added over 6,000 young homeowners in 2024, is the only market seeing long-term price cooling. Since 2022, Dallas’ median single-family home price decreased by 2.6% to $379,990. On the other hand, Evansville and Akron are experiencing rapid three-year price growth of over 20%.
But there is one possible connection between many of these cities: their median home prices are far below the national median of $426,800.
Even in markets experiencing sustained price growth, like Little Rock and Akron, their median home prices are still $200,000 below the national median. Lower home prices offer two main advantages: they result in reduced monthly mortgage payments and create a smaller barrier to entry by requiring lower down payments.
While rising prices may be the primary concern in today’s market, a Zoocasa survey revealed that 10.2% of buyers remain most concerned about saving enough for a down payment. As a result, young buyers who haven’t had decades to build a nest egg may find that low-priced markets offer the most realistic path to homeownership.
Another trend among markets with rising numbers of young buyers is that they often offer more than just lower home prices—they allow owners to build significant equity. While accelerating price growth may eventually impact affordability, these markets currently offer young buyers a unique opportunity to get their foot in the door while making a sound investment. Markets like Winston-Salem, Oklahoma City, and St. Cloud offer median prices well below $325,000 and show a strong potential for continued appreciation, which may give young buyers the confidence they need to make such a large financial commitment.
The Five Markets Losing the Most Young Homeowners and the Vital Role of Income Growth
The markets losing the most young homeowners are spread out across the country, and don’t necessarily have the highest sticker prices either.
Houston saw the largest decline in homeowners under 35, dropping by over 14,000 in 2024. But it’s median home price of $335,000 is even lower than Dallas, which saw the largest increase in homeowners under 35. One explanation for this may be that Houston’s median household income hasn’t kept pace with inflation nearly as much as Dallas.
From 2021 to 2024, Dallas saw median household incomes for 25-to-44-year-olds climb by 24.7%, significantly outpacing the national average of 19.1%. In contrast, Houston’s young professionals saw a much leaner 12.4% increase, leaving their median income roughly $13,000 lower than their counterparts in Dallas. This suggests that despite Houston’s lower home prices, young buyers there may be more cash-strapped than those in Dallas, where wages are rising fast enough to help offset housing costs.
A similar struggle is unfolding in Detroit, which lost over 9,000 young homeowners in 2024. While a median home price of $303,100 appears affordable on paper, it remains a steep climb for local residents earning a median of $84,565, especially since Detroit’s incomes grew by only 16.1% over three years. By comparison, cities like Charleston and Dover have seen incomes surge by over 30%, making it much easier for their residents to bridge the gap between their paychecks and a down payment.
However, slow wage growth was not the issue in Seattle, Riverside, or Portland. These markets also saw declines in young homeowners, but the primary hurdle in these markets was record-high median prices. Even as interest from young buyers cools, prices in Seattle and Riverside have risen 5.9% and 10.4% since 2021, creating a gap that remains difficult to bridge despite rising salaries.
How House Price-to-Income Ratios Reveal Today’s Most Attainable Housing Markets
Nearly all of the markets gaining the most young homeowners have a price-to-income ratio below the national ratio of 4.6, suggesting greater affordability. While median home prices are useful, looking at them in isolation can distort how accessible homeownership actually is for the local population. For example, someone earning a high wage in New York may view home prices in Baton Rouge as very affordable, whereas a local resident earning a Baton Rouge wage may feel quite differently.
This is why house price-to-income ratios are so valuable; they highlight the disparity between how affordable a market appears and how attainable it actually is for those living and working there.
For example, the median household income for those aged 25 to 44 in Fort Collins is high at $107,067, whereas the median income in Lake Charles is just $81,475. Despite this, a prospective buyer in Lake Charles will have a much easier time affording the median home price of $205,000 than a buyer in Fort Collins would for a median home price of $575,000—a cost that is over five times the local median income.
The low house price-to-income ratios in Evansville, St. Cloud, and Akron further highlight why young buyers may be drawn to these cities. As the dream of homeownership fades for some young Americans, the relative affordability of these cities casts a beacon of hope. Prospective young buyers hoping to turn their homeownership dreams into a reality should target cities where wage growth remains elevated, home prices sit below the national median, and the potential for price appreciation is high. These factors can help you build equity over the long-term, enabling owners to move up the property ladder after just a few years.
Are you a young buyer ready to explore your housing options? Zoocasa has thousands of listings available for under the national median price of $426,800. Browse these listings now!
