Washington, D.C., October 12, 2026 – Ohio experienced the steepest decline in homeownership affordability of any state in the nation over the past five years, according to new research from the National Housing Conference (NHC). The findings are part of NHC’s second annual Priced Out: When a Good Job Isn’t Enough report, which examines how the widening gap between wages and housing costs is reshaping affordability for nearly 300 occupations across 390 metropolitan areas.
From 2020 to 2025, the share of occupations able to afford a typically priced home with a 10% down payment fell 40.97 percentage points across Ohio’s metropolitan areas, the largest statewide drop in NHC’s national dataset. Five Ohio metros—Mansfield, Cleveland, Springfield, Toledo, and Akron—ranked among the 25 largest affordability declines in the country.
The shift was especially dramatic in Mansfield, where 82% of tracked occupations could afford a typically priced home in 2020. By 2025, just 30% could. In Columbus, the share fell from 40% to only 9%.
“Ohio’s numbers show just how quickly the path to homeownership can disappear for working families,” said David M. Dworkin, President and CEO of NHC. “In Mansfield, more than four out of five occupations could afford a typical home just five years ago. Today, fewer than one in three can. When teachers, firefighters, EMTs, postal workers and other essential workers are increasingly priced out of the communities they serve, it is not just a housing problem—it is a workforce and economic problem.”
Mansfield shows how quickly the path to homeownership has narrowed
In Mansfield, the value of a typically priced home rose from $115,041 in 2020 to $188,863 in 2025. Over the same period, the annual income needed to qualify for that home more than doubled, climbing 121% from $28,483 to $62,931.
The result is that jobs that once provided a path to homeownership increasingly do not. In 2020, elementary and special education teachers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, firefighters, and postal service mail carriers were among the occupations able to afford a typical Mansfield home. By 2025, firefighters, postal service mail carriers, executive secretaries, and loan officers could no longer afford the typically priced home.
Ohio’s affordability decline also continued well beyond the initial pandemic-era disruption. From 2023 to 2025 alone, the state’s homeownership affordability measure fell by more than 5 percentage points. Springfield and Toledo recorded two of the sharpest recent declines nationally, falling 13.48 and 12.05 percentage points, respectively.
“Rising wages alone cannot solve a structural housing shortage,” said Dworkin. “Ohio needs more homes at prices its workforce can afford. That means building and preserving housing near jobs, reducing unnecessary costs and delays, and aligning federal, state and local policies around increasing supply. A good job should still provide a realistic path to a stable, affordable home.”
The research tracked affordability across thousands of combinations of occupations and metropolitan areas — for example, “a registered nurse in Phoenix” or “a teacher in Cleveland.” Nationally, the average annual salary among occupations that lost the ability to purchase was $70,283. The number of metropolitan areas requiring an annual salary above $100,000 to afford a typically priced home rose to 193 in 2025, compared to 30 in 2019.
Renters are also losing ground. In 2025, 45,833 occupation–metro combinations could afford a two-bedroom apartment without being cost burdened, 5,989 fewer than in 2020. Nearly half of the occupation–metro combinations tracked could not afford a two-bedroom rental in 2025, and 38 metropolitan areas required an annual salary above $75,000 to do so.
NHC’s analysis draws on its Paycheck to Paycheck database, which combines occupational wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, typical home values from Zillow, and Fair Market Rents from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The database compares annual wages and housing costs for nearly 300 occupations across 390 metropolitan statistical areas, showing where workers can—and cannot—afford typical housing. To see how rising costs are affecting your community, visit the Paycheck to Paycheck database at www.nhc.org/paycheck-to-paycheck.
NOTE TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS: NHC can provide customized data and analysis for your metropolitan area.
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About the National Housing Conference (NHC): Founded in 1931, the National Housing Conference is the oldest and broadest housing coalition in America. NHC is a diverse continuum of affordable housing stakeholders who convene and collaborate through dialogue, advocacy, research, and education, to develop equitable solutions that serve our common interest—an America where everyone is able to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community. Politically diverse and nonpartisan, NHC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. To learn more about NHC, visit www.nhc.org.