Arkansas Is #3 in Affordability for Millennial Homebuyers

Millennials are already the largest generation of home buyers in the U.S., spending a collective $514 billion on home purchases in the last year; however their ability to buy varies dramatically from state to state. Recently, GoBankingRates.com compiled a ranking of all fifty states based on how affordable their housing market was for those age 25-34. The results showed that Arkansas was the third most affordable state in the U.S. for these young buyers!

Because of rising home prices, stagnant wages, and massive student loan debt, Millennials have gotten off to a slow start in the housing market relative to the generations that grew up before them. Together, these factors make affordability the primary concern of these young buyers. GoBankingRates.com quantified affordability by comparing the median wage of Millennials in each state to that state's median home price, calculating how long it would take for a typical buyer to save enough for a down payment. The results highlight the huge disparity in affordability between the top and bottom states!

Overall, the site found that Arkansas was third in the country in affordability, with the median Millennial able to save a 20% down payment in approximately 2.7 years. This was only slightly greater than the top states, West Virginia and Ohio, where Millennials could save the down payment in 2.5 years. At the other end of the spectrum, the least affordable state was Hawaii, where young buyers would have to save for almost 10 years in order to purchase the typical home!

Here are the top and bottom 5 states (graphic from GoBankingRates.com):

Source: "The Most and Least Affordable States for Millennials to Buy Homes"