Days Of Work To Afford A Monthly Mortgage, By State

Thinking of buying your first home?

Here’s some useful data to see how much work it will take to make that a reality.

Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao maps and lists the number of eight-hour workdays it takes to afford a monthly mortgage payment across the U.S.

This data is sourced from Today’s Homeowner, based off median hourly wages and home prices in each state, assuming a:

30-year mortgage

5.8% mortgage rate

6% down payment

How Was this Data Put Together?

Today’s Homeowner looked at the median hourly wage in each state as recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2024.

They used Zillow to determine the median home listing price and factored in the national average mortgage interest rate (5.8%) for a 30-year-loan, along with a 6% average down payment.

ℹ️ A 6% down payment is on the lower end of the spectrum. Increasing it would reduce the principal borrowed and resulting interest—also lowering the # of days of work.

From this, they calculated the average mortgage payment in each state and arrived at hours of work required per month to pay it. We then converted their figures to workdays (assuming 8 hours per day). Overtime was not factored into this metric.

Ranked: Days of Work to Afford a Mortgage in Each State

Hawaiians have to work the most number of eight-hour days (33) in a month to afford mortgage payments in their state.

Not only is this more than the actual days in a month, it also implies that even working weekends is not enough for those making the median wage.

State
Workdays
Median Hourly
Wage
Median Home
Prices
Monthly
Mortgage
Hawaii
33
$23
$909,000
$6,030
California
28
$23
$788,000
$5,241
Utah
26
$19
$572,000
$3,834
Idaho
22
$18
$472,000
$3,183
Nevada
22
$18
$467,000
$3,150
Washington
22
$24
$624,000
$4,172
Colorado
21
$23
$586,000
$3,925
Arizona
20
$19
$448,000
$3,027
Montana
21
$18
$453,000
$3,006
Oregon
20
$23
$524,000
$3,521
Florida
19
$18
$402,000
$2,727
Massachusetts
18
$28
$591,000
$3,957
New Jersey
17
$23
$470,000
$3,170
New Hampshire
16
$23
$436,000
$2,948
Rhode Island
16
$23
$437,000
$2,904
District of Columbia
15
$38
$707,000
$4,713
Georgia
15
$18
$319,000
$2,185
Maine
15
$21
$365,000
$2,443
North Carolina
15
$18
$322,000
$2,167
Delaware
14
$22
$358,000
$2,440
Maryland
15
$23
$406,000
$2,705
New Mexico
14
$18
$296,000
$2,035
New York
15
$23
$407,000
$2,711
South Carolina
14
$18
$295,000
$1,994
South Dakota
14
$18
$294,000
$1,998
Tennessee
14
$18
$303,000
$2,045
Texas
14
$19
$315,000
$2,122
Vermont
14
$23
$356,000
$2,427
Virginia
14
$23
$375,000
$2,551
Connecticut
13
$23
$361,000
$2,459
Alaska
12
$23
$328,000
$2,244
Minnesota
12
$23
$334,000
$2,244
Wyoming
12
$22
$323,000
$2,174
Missouri
11
$18
$231,000
$1,611
Nebraska
11
$19
$240,000
$1,642
Pennsylvania
11
$22
$266,000
$1,840
Wisconsin
11
$22
$265,000
$1,833
Alabama
10
$18
$207,000
$1,431
Illinois
10
$22
$267,000
$1,846
Indiana
11
$18
$221,000
$1,546
Kansas
10
$18
$207,000
$1,470
Kentucky
10
$18
$198,000
$1,411
Louisiana
11
$18
$215,000
$1,507
Michigan
10
$22
$237,000
$1,651
North Dakota
10
$23
$277,000
$1,879
Ohio
10
$19
$212,000
$1,503
Arkansas
9
$18
$179,000
$1,295
Iowa
9
$19
$192,000
$1,372
Mississippi
9
$17
$166,000
$1,200
Oklahoma
9
$18
$182,000
$1,306
West Virginia
7
$18
$139,000
$1,028
National Average
14
$22
$355,852
$2,431

As it happens, Hawaii’s median wage is quite literally the middle of the pack ($23/hour) and is tied with 14 other states. But its median home values are nearing $1 million, which puts the mortgage payment at more than $6,000 a month.

Additionally, all of this work is just for housing—without any leeway for other bills and expenses.

Predictably, Southern states are the most affordable. Their median wages may be lower than the rest of the country, but so are their median home prices.

However, some states on the East Coast don’t do so badly either: Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New York, are all below the 15-day mark.

In case more proof is needed that the South has lower costs of living, we have some data there. Check out: The Purchasing Power of $100 in Each State for some insights.