Buying a house

Home prices

Home values have grown tremendously in the last few years. I use 2019 as a benchmark, because it’s before the pandemic (and attendant government interventions) caused sharp break in existing economic trends.

In dollar terms, prices have increased the most at the top of the housing market. In proportional terms, costs grew the most among cheaper, “starter” homes. In the US as a whole, the cost of the 75th percentile home grew by $205,000 (43%) from 2019 to 2024. The cost of the median home grew by $120,000 (49%). The 25th percentile home’s cost grew by $69,000 (54%).

The Milwaukee metro shows the same trend as the nation, although, beginning from different baselines. Each of the WOW counties is quite a bit more expensive than the national average. The City of Milwaukee is much cheaper. But all show rapidly growing prices.

In the City of Milwaukee, a typical cheap house (25th percentile) cost about $71,000 in 2019. In other words, a quarter of houses in the city cost $71,000 or less. The average house cost $126,000, and an expensive house (75th percentile) cost just shy of $200,000. Or, in other words, 25% of houses cost $194,000 or more.

By the summer of 2024, houses worth less than $71,000 had almost disappeared from Milwaukee. Now, the cheap 25th percentile home cost $126,000–the same price as the average home in 2019. Meanwhile, the average home had jumped to $206,000. That’s more than an expensive, 75th percentile home in 2019. That 75th percentile home now cost $294,000, fully a $100,000 increase since 2019.

We see similar trends in the WOW counties, where housing was already far more costly. In Waukesha, the price of the average house grew from $324,000 in 2019 to $455,000 in 2024. In Ozaukee, it grew from $335,000 to $452,000. And in Washington County, historically the most affordable of the three, the median house grew from $277,000 to $392,000.

The data is the following graphs shows the smoothed, seasonally-adjusted Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) from May of each year.

Value of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
City of Milwaukee
2019 2024 change pchange
zhvi_low $70,897 $125,621 $54,724 77%
zhvi_mid $125,650 $205,711 $80,061 64%
zhvi_high $194,041 $293,910 $99,869 51%

ZHVI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
Waukesha County
2019 2024 change pchange
zhvi_low $232,615 $339,020 $106,405 46%
zhvi_mid $323,693 $454,885 $131,192 41%
zhvi_high $484,771 $654,014 $169,243 35%

ZHVI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
Ozaukee County
2019 2024 change pchange
zhvi_low $225,677 $323,004 $97,327 43%
zhvi_mid $335,235 $451,505 $116,271 35%
zhvi_high $546,014 $688,441 $142,426 26%

ZHVI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
Washington County
2019 2024 change pchange
zhvi_low $190,534 $279,174 $88,640 47%
zhvi_mid $276,590 $391,585 $114,994 42%
zhvi_high $417,546 $550,556 $133,010 32%

ZHVI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
United States
2019 2024 change pchange
zhvi_low $127,035 $195,824 $68,789 54%
zhvi_mid $243,011 $362,870 $119,859 49%
zhvi_high $479,192 $684,620 $205,428 43%

Monthly cost

Most prospective homebuyers will not buy a house with cash. Because they will need a mortgage, the number that really matters is not the home’s sticker price, but rather the monthly payment they can afford. Banks calculate this monthly payment–inclusive of principal, interest, taxes, and insurance–before deciding how much of a loan to give a customer. The total payment amount is known by the acronymn PITI.

PITI has increased far faster than home values, mostly because of rapidly rising interest rates but also because of increased home insurance rates.

My PITI formula assumes common characteristics of a first-time homebuyer, including 5% down and 1% private mortage insurance (on the principal). I get typical property insurance rates for past years from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, and I adjust for the most recent years using this FRED index, which shows rapid recent growth in premiums. I calculate property tax rates using census data for the nation as a whole and metros outside of Wisconsin. Within Wisconsin, I use official gross tax rate data collected by the Department of Revenue and archived by the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

For more established homebuyers who can afford to put more down (and avoid PMI), their PITI will be somewhat lower.

The average house in the U.S cost $243,000 in 2019, and the monthly payment needed to buy it was around $1,600. The cost of that average home grew by 49% to $363,000 in 2024, but the PITI to buy that house in 2024 jumped by 85%, to about $3,000.

Similarly, in the City of Milwaukee, the monthly cost to buy the average house was $1,020 in 2019 and $1,880 in 2024. The monthly cost has almost doubled for the 25th percentile home, jumping 95% from $600 in 2019 to $1,180 in 2024.

Here are these numbers for the City of Milwaukee, the United States overall, and each of the WOW counties.

PITI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
City of Milwaukee
2019 2024 change pchange
piti_low $603 $1,175 $571 95%
piti_mid $1,023 $1,877 $853 83%
piti_high $1,547 $2,650 $1,102 71%

PITI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
Waukesha County
2019 2024 change pchange
piti_low $1,616 $2,810 $1,194 74%
piti_mid $2,225 $3,745 $1,520 68%
piti_high $3,302 $5,352 $2,050 62%

PITI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
Ozaukee County
2019 2024 change pchange
piti_low $1,581 $2,725 $1,144 72%
piti_mid $2,319 $3,780 $1,460 63%
piti_high $3,740 $5,724 $1,985 53%

PITI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
Washington County
2019 2024 change pchange
piti_low $1,331 $2,328 $996 75%
piti_mid $1,906 $3,235 $1,330 70%
piti_high $2,846 $4,519 $1,673 59%

PITI of the median, 25th, and 75th percentile house
United States
2019 2024 change pchange
piti_low $874 $1,637 $763 87%
piti_mid $1,600 $2,955 $1,355 85%
piti_high $3,079 $5,494 $2,415 78%

Wages

Wages have also grown since 2019 but not nearly as quickly as home prices. My data source here is Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It releases hourly and annual wage data for around 830 specific occupations as of May of each year. The data is released at a lag, so our most current OEWS statistics are from May 2023. More recent, less-detailed wage estimates are also available, as I discuss below.

Here is that data for all workers in the Milwaukee metro and the United States overall. We have statistics for the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentile wage earners. In 2001, workers in Milwaukee earned a bit more than workers nationally. This was true of workers across percentiles. The 10th percentile worker made $1,170 more per year in Milwaukee than nationally. The 25th percentile worker made $1,120 more in Milwaukee; the median worker $1,330; the 75th percentile $1,660; and the 90th percentile $610 more.

Several things changed by 2023. First, Milwaukee’s wage advantage among workers in the bottom half of the income distribution shrank. The 25th percentile Milwaukee worker made $520 more than the 25th percentile worker nationally. That’s less than half the wage premium they enjoyed in 2001. Likewise, the median Milwaukee worker made $400 more than the national median in 2023, down from $1,330 more in 2001. The poorest workers in Milwaukee faired even worse. The 10th percentile worker in Milwaukee in 2023 made $720 less than the 10th percentile worker nationally, while in 2001 they made $1,330 more. That might be a result of Wisconsin’s frozen minimum wage.

High earners in the Milwaukee metro have also slipped relative to their national peers. The 75th percentile earner in Milwaukee made $1,910 less than the same percentile nationally (they made $1,660 more in 2001). The gap is most striking for 90th percentile earners. The 90th percentile wage earner took home $610 more in Milwaukee than nationally in 2001. In 2023, the 90th percentile Milwaukee earner made $16,330 less than the national 90th percentile.

The standard financial advice is that a household should spend no more than 30% of their gross (pre-tax) income on housing expenses. This is still the definition used by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, for instance.

These two graphs show the proportion of the median full time wage required to buy the median house from 2001 to 2024. One graph shows these numbers for the United States as a whole, and the other shows the figures for the City of Milwaukee.

As described above, our highest-quality wage data ends in May 2023. However, recent estimates show that the average wage grew 4% between May of 2023 and May of 2024, so I multiply the 2023 annual salary by 1.04 to get an estimate for 2024. That recent estimate is shown with the dashed line in the charts below.

Here are a few observations about this data.

  • Buying a house is more expensive today, relative to income, than at any point in the past two decades. This is true in Milwaukee and the country as a whole.
  • Buying a house in the City of Milwaukee is dramatically more affordable than the national average. This has been the case for the past 20 years and it’s still true today.
  • In the US overall, the average house cost about 50% of the average full time salary in the early 2000s. That grew to about 65% in 2005. Then, the housing crisis rapidly reduced home prices while interest rate cuts further reduced the cost of buying a house. In 2012, the PITI for the median house dropped all the way to 37% of the national median salary. The cost of buying a house slowly grew, reaching 49% of the average salary in 2018, then dipping back to 45% in 2020. From May 2021 to May 2022, the cost of the median house jumped from 45% to 63% of the typical salary. It grew to 68% in 2023, and likely 71% in 2024 (based on preliminary salary estimates).
  • Milwaukee followed the same trajectory, but with much lower prices. In the early 2000s, the cost of buying the average house was about 30% of the metro’s median full time salary. That grew to 40% in 2006, then fell to just 21% in 2012. From 2018-2021 the cost of buying the typical home in Milwaukee stayed at a consistent 29%-30% of the metro median salary. Then, it jumped to 38% in 2022, 41% in 2023, and (likely) 45% in 2024.

Considering the 30% standard of affordability, at no point during the last 30 years did the median worker earn enough to comfortably afford the median house on their own. On the other hand, a household with two people earning the median wage could’ve afforded the average house during most of the 21st century so far. The exceptions were the peak years before the subprime mortgage crisis and also the present day.

In Milwaukee, by contrast, the metro’s median salary has been enough on its own to purchase the average house in Milwaukee for most of the past quarter century. The exceptions are 2004-2008 and again during the past several years up to the present. The cost of the average house in Milwaukee has remained comfortably within the budget of a household with two workers earning the median salary throughout this period.

Who is the median earner?

In 2023, the median full-time wage in the Milwaukee metro was $48,460. This is very similar to the salary earned by the average retail supervisor, machinist, firefighter, health tech, insurance claims processor, and auto body repairer. The median worker in these jobs makes the metro-wide median wage. Because compensation tends to rise with experience, I interpret that to mean this is the normal wage of a mid-career worker in one of these professions.

In other professions, only the 75th percentile worker earns this wage. Likely, this is the typical wage of a late-career worker. These jobs include office clerks, medical assistants, and hairdressers.

In other jobs, the 25th percentile worker already makes the metro’s median wage. For these professions, even early-career workers are likely earning this much. These jobs include truck drivers, welders, carpenters, and postal carriers.

Postal carriers are a good example of the affordability crunch in Milwaukee. In 2019, the 25th percentile postal carrier in the Milwaukee metro earned $38,060. At that time, the average house in Milwaukee cost $126,000 and had a monthly PITI of $1,023, or 32% of that postal worker’s salary. So, with a little careful budgeting, even an early career mail carrier could buy that typical Milwaukee house.

By 2023, mail carrier salaries had risen quite a bit. Now, the 25th percentile worker was making $48,090–a 26% increase from 2019. But buying the average house in Milwaukee would now cost 42% of that 25th percentile mail carrier salary. In fact, rising costs also put the average Milwaukee house out of reach of the median mail carrier. In 2023, it would take a 75th percentile mail carrier salary to comfortably afford the average house in Milwaukee. At $75,300 it was 27% of the PITI needed to buy the median Milwaukee home.

In other words, in 2019 75% of mail carriers could afford to buy the average house in Milwaukee, on their salary alone. In 2023, only about 25% could.

Even so, Milwaukee remains one of the most affordable major cities for homebuying. In most large American cities the wage of even the 75th percentile mail carrier is insufficient to buy the average house. While the median home’s PITI cost 27% of this salary in Milwaukee in 2023, it cost 41% of mail carrier salaries in Chicago and Minneapolis, 49% in Madison, 67% in Denver, 99% in New York, 106% in Los Angeles, and 152% in San Francisco.

Here is another example of Milwaukee’s relative affordability. Even in 2023, the PITI required to buy the median home in the City of Milwaukee was equivalent to 30% of the average high school teacher’s salary. It was 38% in Chicago, 46% in Minneapolis, 54% in Atlanta, 74% in New York, 80% in Los Angeles, and 111% in San Francisco.

Suburban affordability

If Milwaukee is still relatively affordable, the same cannot be said of most of the suburbs.

Even in 2019, the City of Milwaukee was the only municipality where a single average wage earner could afford the average house by themselves. But in Milwaukee county, at least, a couple where both spouses earned the average could still afford the average home in most suburbs. Only Franklin, Shorewood, Fox Point, Bayside, Whitefish Bay, and River Hills were out of reach to a family with two median earners.

The ranks of affordable suburbs shrank a lot in the intervening years. By 2023, only 7 of 19 Milwaukee County municipalities were affordable for a family with two median wage earners. Preliminary 2024 wage estimates suggest things have gotten even tighter.

Here are some examples of how the affordability of individual municipalities have changed. For the years 2019 and 2023, I’ve identified professions with incomes closest to the affordability threshold, where the PITI for the median home equals 30% of the average wage.

  • In 2019, a typical first-line factory supervisor could afford the typical house in Greenfield, with their median salary of $63,500. In 2023, it took a salary of $100,200 to afford that house, typical of what electrical engineers earn.
  • In 2019, a typical bookkeeping/accounting clerk could afford the typical house in Milwaukee, with their median salary of $41,000. In 2023, it took a salary of $67,100 to afford that house, typical of what high school teachers earn.
  • In 2019, a typical tool and die maker could afford the average house in West Allis, with their median salary of $52,300. In 2023, it took a salary of $82,800 to afford that house, typical of what a registered nurse earned.
Milwaukee County: Affordability of the median house
price, monthly payment on 30 year mortage, and monthly payment as a share of the median wage
zhvi piti pct
2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019
C Milwaukee $206K $188K $126K $1,877 $1,669 $1,023 45% 41% 30%
V West Milwaukee $234K $223K $159K $2,165 $1,993 $1,331 52% 49% 39%
C West Allis $256K $238K $162K $2,303 $2,071 $1,306 55% 51% 38%
C Cudahy $267K $251K $168K $2,365 $2,145 $1,347 56% 53% 40%
C Saint Francis $271K $261K $190K $2,550 $2,368 $1,547 61% 59% 46%
V Brown Deer $274K $264K $184K $2,514 $2,329 $1,514 60% 58% 45%
C South Milwaukee $276K $266K $187K $2,478 $2,298 $1,475 59% 57% 43%
C Greenfield $310K $290K $204K $2,769 $2,506 $1,587 66% 62% 47%
C Glendale $327K $319K $232K $2,999 $2,809 $1,787 71% 70% 53%
V Greendale $365K $346K $257K $3,249 $2,969 $1,991 77% 74% 59%
V Hales Corners $371K $358K $263K $3,292 $3,049 $2,003 78% 76% 59%
C Oak Creek $377K $350K $267K $3,330 $2,993 $1,994 79% 74% 59%
C Wauwatosa $390K $356K $270K $3,386 $2,997 $2,048 81% 74% 60%
C Franklin $409K $380K $286K $3,546 $3,183 $2,139 84% 79% 63%
V Shorewood $487K $477K $361K $4,500 $4,229 $2,867 107% 105% 84%
V Fox Point $498K $503K $368K $4,628 $4,457 $2,834 110% 110% 84%
V Bayside $503K $487K $359K $4,631 $4,315 $2,798 110% 107% 82%
V Whitefish Bay $584K $551K $417K $4,959 $4,494 $3,060 118% 111% 90%
V River Hills $872K $828K $623K $7,941 $7,290 $4,819 189% 181% 142%

Waukesha County is an expensive place. In 2019, only four municipalities offered a median house that was affordable to a household with two median earners. By 2023, that fell to just 1 community, the Village of Butler. Although, Butler too grew much more expensive. In 2019, a typical elementary school teacher could afford the median house in Butler, with their median salary of $59,300. In 2023, it took a salary of $86,500 to afford the median Butler house, typical of what a mechanical engineer makes.

Even high income professions saw many Waukesha County municipalities slip out of reach.

  • In 2019, a typical personal financial advisor could afford the median house in the Village of Mukwanago, with their median salary of $90,300. In 2023, it took a salary of $135,700 to afford that house, more characteristic of what an actual financial manager earns.
  • Likewise, in 2019 a typical software developer could afford the median house in the Village of Eagle, with their median salary of $93,200. In 2023, it took a salary of $138,000 to afford that house, around the median wage of an actuary.
Waukesha County: Affordability of the median house
price, monthly payment on 30 year mortage, and monthly payment as a share of the median wage
zhvi piti pct
2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019
V Butler $281K $260K $203K $2,422 $2,163 $1,481 58% 54% 44%
V Pewaukee $363K $343K $259K $3,010 $2,727 $1,807 72% 68% 53%
C Waukesha $381K $353K $261K $3,265 $2,915 $1,909 78% 72% 56%
V Menomonee Falls $395K $374K $306K $3,278 $2,974 $2,121 78% 74% 62%
C New Berlin $415K $389K $288K $3,429 $3,083 $1,998 82% 76% 59%
V Dousman $439K $417K $322K $3,674 $3,347 $2,270 87% 83% 67%
V Lannon $446K $401K $316K $3,671 $3,188 $2,140 87% 79% 63%
V Mukwonago $448K $420K $322K $3,765 $3,392 $2,245 90% 84% 66%
V North Prairie $451K $425K $323K $3,690 $3,331 $2,177 88% 82% 64%
V Sussex $464K $431K $338K $3,858 $3,447 $2,350 92% 85% 69%
C Muskego $470K $448K $345K $3,832 $3,486 $2,336 91% 86% 69%
V Eagle $474K $444K $340K $3,849 $3,453 $2,338 92% 86% 69%
C Brookfield $482K $447K $336K $3,987 $3,556 $2,343 95% 88% 69%
V Vernon $490K $470K $361K $3,949 $3,615 — 94% 90% —
C Oconomowoc $492K $460K $343K $4,060 $3,646 $2,371 97% 90% 70%
V Wales $498K $469K $349K $4,081 $3,678 $2,382 97% 91% 70%
C Pewaukee $515K $498K $389K $4,187 $3,864 $2,608 100% 96% 77%
V Lisbon $525K $507K $389K $4,264 $3,932 — 102% 97% —
T Genesee $547K $526K $389K $4,434 $4,065 $2,564 106% 101% 76%
T Ottawa $564K $529K $406K $4,544 $4,081 $2,690 108% 101% 79%
V Hartland $593K $576K $444K $4,815 $4,456 $2,974 115% 110% 88%
V Elm Grove $618K $571K $431K $5,118 $4,547 $3,012 122% 113% 89%
V Nashotah $642K $627K $456K $5,130 $4,765 $2,985 122% 118% 88%
C Delafield $675K $651K $484K $5,487 $5,057 $3,262 131% 125% 96%
V Summit $690K $679K $497K $5,559 $5,198 $3,324 132% 129% 98%
V Oconomowoc Lake $2M $2M $1M $14,772 $13,671 $7,502 352% 339% 221%

Ozaukee County had several relatively affordable communities by suburban standards in 2019. The cost of buying the median home in Port Washington, Saukville, Belgium, Fredonia, and Thiensville was all within 60% of the metro’s median income, or 30% of a dual-earner household. By 2023, no community fell within this threshold.

  • In 2019, a typical police officer could afford the median house in the Village of Belgium, with their median wage of $74,400. In 2023, it took a salary of $111,700 to afford this home, around the median wage of an administrative services manager.
  • In 2019, a typical computer programmer could afford the median house in the Village of Thiensville, with their median salary of $81,100. In 2023, it took a salary of $124,600 to afford that house, around the median wage of a nurse practitioner.
Ozaukee County: Affordability of the median house
price, monthly payment on 30 year mortage, and monthly payment as a share of the median wage
zhvi piti pct
2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019
C Port Washington $346K $334K $258K $2,942 $2,715 $1,831 70% 67% 54%
V Saukville $358K $342K $255K $3,057 $2,802 $1,841 73% 69% 54%
V Belgium $359K $345K $262K $3,033 $2,792 $1,866 72% 69% 55%
V Fredonia $368K $357K $267K $3,151 $2,930 $1,904 75% 73% 56%
V Thiensville $385K $385K $292K $3,276 $3,115 $2,041 78% 77% 60%
V Grafton $402K $387K $291K $3,411 $3,145 $2,083 81% 78% 61%
C Cedarburg $502K $494K $375K $4,243 $3,981 $2,671 101% 99% 79%
C Mequon $605K $602K $483K $5,037 $4,768 $3,258 120% 118% 96%

Washington County has historically been more affordable than neighboring Waukesha or Ozaukee. In 2019, buying the median house in West Bend, Newburg, or Hartford cost less than 50% of the metro’s median wage. The median home in the most expensive municipality (Town of Polk) had a PITI of 80% of the metro’s median income.

In 2023, the cheapest municipalities (West Bend and Newburg) had a median PITI of 60% of the metro’s median income and the PITI for the most expensive municipality was 105% the median wage.

  • In 2019, a typical sheet metal worker could afford the median house in the Village of Slinger, with their median salary of $82,000. In 2023, it took a salary of $128,900 to afford that house, around the median wage of a physician assistant.
  • In 2019, a typical radiation therapist could afford the median home in the Village of Jackson, with their median wage of $77,500. In 2023, it took a salary of $115,500 to afford that house, similar to the average earnings of a industrial production manager.
Washington County: Affordability of the median house
price, monthly payment on 30 year mortage, and monthly payment as a share of the median wage
zhvi piti pct
2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019 2024 2023 2019
C West Bend $322K $300K $227K $2,709 $2,425 $1,624 65% 60% 48%
V Newburg $325K $301K $227K $2,723 $2,427 $1,627 65% 60% 48%
V Kewaskum $336K $318K $244K $2,829 $2,566 $1,743 67% 64% 51%
C Hartford $346K $322K $234K $2,890 $2,585 $1,649 69% 64% 49%
V Jackson $389K $359K $274K $3,247 $2,886 $1,949 77% 71% 57%
T Addison $400K $391K $286K $3,264 $3,036 $1,923 78% 75% 57%
T Trenton $427K $412K $294K $3,443 $3,168 $1,961 82% 78% 58%
V Germantown $427K $398K $305K $3,626 $3,254 $2,148 86% 81% 63%
T Barton $429K $423K $316K $3,464 $3,252 $2,110 82% 81% 62%
V Slinger $429K $405K $297K $3,557 $3,224 $2,047 85% 80% 60%
T Farmington $438K $429K $326K $3,534 $3,295 $2,164 84% 82% 64%
T Wayne $484K $479K $337K $3,893 $3,660 $2,225 93% 91% 66%
V Richfield $529K $504K $376K $4,298 $3,916 $2,495 102% 97% 74%
T Polk $532K $554K $416K $4,291 $4,224 $2,718 102% 105% 80%
T Erin $559K $544K $406K $4,476 $4,147 $2,667 107% 103% 79%

Where can different jobs afford homes?

Here’s a different way of looking at the same data. In this table I show the number of Milwaukee metro municipalities where the median wage earner in various occupations could afford a house. By “afford” I mean a municipality where the monthly cost of buying the house (PITI) is 30% of the median wage or less.

We have data for 66 municipalities in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties.

Consider registered nurses, one of the most common jobs in the metro. In 2019, the median RN made $73,080. There were 51 municipalities where that salary could afford the 25th percentile home, 15 where they could afford the median home, and 4 where even the 75th percentile home could be afforded by the median registered nurse on their own salary.

By 2023, the median registered nurse’s salary has grown to $82,780, but the number of housing options had shrunk dramatically. The median nurse’s salary would cover the cost of buying the 25th percentile home in just 16 communities and the median home in 4. In no places could the median nurse afford the 75th percentile home on their own salary.

Other professions have simply seen homeownership slip out of reach entirely. In 2019, the median janitor could potentially afford the 25th percentile home in the City of Milwaukee. At that time, Milwaukee’s 25th percentile home was worth $70,900 with a monthly payment of $603. The typical janitor earned $25,820, so that home would cost 28% of the janitor’s gross income. With careful budgeting, that price was achievable. This is a good example of the kind of situation Acts Housing had success with.

In 2023, the typical janitor’s wage had indeed gone up. He or she now made $34,500, which is a 34% increase in 4 years. But the price of that cheap, 25th percentile house, grew even more. It now cost $115,700, with a monthly PITI of $1,055. That would cost 37% of the janitor’s 2023 salary.

Our hypothetical janitor could still likely afford a cheap Milwaukee house if they had a spouse making a similar amount or more, but doing so has clearly gotten more difficult.