Ohio has experienced the steepest decline in homeownership affordability across the nation between 2020 and 2025, according to new reporting from the National Housing Conference. The "Priced Out: When a Good Job Isn’t Enough" report indicates that the number of occupations in Ohio’s metropolitan areas able to afford a typically priced home with a 10% down payment fell by nearly 41% during this period.
In 2020, 67% of occupations in Ohio could afford to purchase a home with a 10% down payment. By 2025, that figure plummeted to just 26%, according to the report. Marcus Roth, spokesperson for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), stated that "home ownership is becoming a luxury in Ohio," noting that jobs historically considered middle class, such as firefighters or mail carriers, are increasingly excluded from homeownership.
Five Ohio cities — Mansfield, Cleveland, Springfield, Toledo, and Akron — were identified among the 25 largest affordability declines in the country. David M. Dworkin, President and CEO of the National Housing Conference, highlighted the rapid erosion of homeownership paths for working families in Ohio. The average annual salary among occupations that lost the ability to purchase a home with a 10% downpayment between 2020 and 2025 was $70,283.
Mansfield experienced the most significant loss in homeownership affordability within Ohio. The report shows that in Mansfield, a typically priced home was $115,041 in 2020, requiring an annual income of $28,483 to qualify. By 2025, the price of a typical home in Mansfield surged to $188,863, demanding an income of $62,931 — a staggering 121% increase.
Specific occupations illustrate this shift in Mansfield. In 2020, elementary and special education teachers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, firefighters, and postal service mail carriers could afford a typical Mansfield home. However, by 2025, firefighters, postal service mail carriers, executive secretaries, and loan officers could no longer afford such a home. Dworkin noted that just five years ago, more than four out of five occupations in Mansfield could afford a typical home, but today, fewer than one in three can. He further explained that when essential workers are priced out, the issue extends beyond housing to become a workforce and economic problem.
The escalating difficulty in affording a home also places increased pressure on the rental market. When individuals cannot afford to buy, they remain renters longer, driving up demand, Roth explained. This increased demand, he added, has led to higher rental costs. The report shows that while 77% of occupations in Ohio could afford a two-bedroom apartment in 2020, this figure dropped to 69% by 2025.
Further underscoring the rental crisis, a full-time Ohio worker needs to earn at least $23.82 an hour to afford a "modest" two-bedroom apartment, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO’s annual Out of Reach report. Ohio also faces a substantial shortage of 266,000 affordable and available rental units, based on the 2026 Gap Report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO.
To address these challenges, Dworkin stated that Ohio requires more homes at prices its workforce can afford. This involves building and preserving housing near job centers, reducing unnecessary costs and delays in construction, and aligning federal, state, and local policies to increase housing supply. Dworkin emphasized that a good job should still offer a realistic path to a stable, affordable home.