Housing is the largest regular expenditure for most households, so the failure of wages to keep up with housing prices can make housing costs even more expensive in real dollars. And since the onset of the pandemic, housing prices have skyrocketed, with the cost of homes sold in the U.S. increasing by more than 40%.

Income growth lagging behind rising housing costs, however, is not a recent development. From 2000 to 2022, the median annual household income in the U.S. increased by 77.6%, from $41,990 to $74,580, while the median home price nearly tripled—a 170% increase—from $123,086 to $332,826. On an inflation-adjusted basis, household incomes increased by just 4.5% since 2000, while home prices increased by 59.1%.

This gap between wage growth and home price growth may be most severely felt in areas where home prices are increasing the fastest. To find the locations with the highest price-to-income ratios, researchers ranked locations by the median home price divided by the median annual household income.

These are the key takeaways from the report for Georgia:

• The median home price in Georgia increased by 64.5% over the past five years, and now sits at $321,821.

• Meanwhile, the median income for Georgia households is $72,837—resulting in a home price-to-income ratio of 4.4.

• Overall, Georgia has a lower home price-to-income ratio than the country as a whole (4.7).

Here is a link to the complete results of the analysis, with data on over 380 U.S. cities and all 50 states. Feel free to republish or use the findings in your own write-up. If you choose to use the analysis, please link to the original report: https://constructioncoverage.com/research/cities-with-highest-home-price-to-income-ratios