Note to reader: real estate investors and those who are able to work remotely or are retired have been transitioning out of the urban areas and into more rural settings. The trend seems to be continuing although the covid crisis is now at least 5 years ago. My anecdotal investment experiences conform with Redfin’s findings. I have also observed that rent rates have been climbing faster in the rural areas in which I have been investing.
Just because there is plenty of land in the rural areas of the United States does not mean that building homes are much cheaper. In order to build a rural home, there must be readily available utilities, such as easy access to the electricity grid, as well as built out public sewers and water supply. Also, roads must be constructed and these types of build-outs can add astronomical sums to the prices of rural new home construction.
Very often, homes built in rural settings lack this available infrastructure and thus, wells and septic systems must be built. If readily available electricity is not present, electricity lines must be made available to the new structure. It’s estimated that a 10-pole line can easily cost more than $100,000. Building a single-family home in a rural setting can actually be more expensive than elsewhere.
- Rural homebuyers need to earn $75,000 to afford the typical home, up from $36,000 before the pandemic. Suburban and urban areas have also seen affordability erode—but not as severely.
- The median home sale price in rural areas is up 61% from before the pandemic, compared with a 49% increase in suburban areas and a 46% gain in urban areas.
- The median household income in rural areas has climbed 33%, less than the 37% increase in suburban areas and the 39% uptick in urban areas.
Rural America has been hit by a one-two punch of rising home prices and lagging incomes, and as a result has seen housing affordability erode faster than big cities and suburbs.
Homebuyers need to earn an annual income of $74,508 to afford the median-priced home in rural U.S. counties. That’s up 105.8% from before the pandemic, when rural buyers needed to earn $36,206.
By comparison, the income needed to afford a home in suburban counties has risen 90.9% (to $102,120 from $53,482), and the income needed to afford a home in urban counties has climbed 87.5% (to $118,300 from $63,103).
This is based on a Redfin analysis that compares the third quarter of 2025 with the third quarter of 2019. We consider a home affordable if a buyer taking out a mortgage spends no more than 30% of their income on their monthly housing payment. This analysis uses MLS median home sale price data, prevailing mortgage rates and property-tax payments, and U.S. Census Bureau data on incomes.
Homebuyers in rural areas have faced relatively large jumps in home prices, which is one reason affordability has eroded. The median sale price in rural counties is $280,900, up 60.5% from $175,000 before the pandemic. By comparison, suburban counties have seen a 48.9% increase (to $385,000 from $258,500) and urban counties have experienced a 46.2% gain (to $446,000 from $305,000).
Income growth also hasn’t kept up. The median household income in rural counties is $69,307, up 33.3% from $52,002 before the pandemic. By comparison, suburban counties have seen a 36.8% gain (to $88,627 from $64,782) and urban counties have seen a 39.3% gain (to $89,784 from $64,468).
Big cities fell out of favor during the pandemic, when scores of Americans moved to rural and suburban areas in search of space, privacy and access to nature. Some were seeking a lower cost of living, while others were buying up pricey vacation homes in places like Lake Tahoe. Record-low mortgage rates and remote work were the forces that empowered millions to relocate. The pandemic homebuying frenzy that swept through rural and suburban areas sent home prices soaring, leaving many communities grappling with an affordability crisis that persists today. Rural areas often only have a handful of homes for sale, meaning homebuyers frequently compete with one another—another factor that drives up prices.
New Hampshire Has Seen the Biggest Increase in Income Needed to Afford a Rural Home
Homebuyers need to earn an annual income of $119,361 to afford the median-priced home in rural New Hampshire. That’s up 141.4% from before the pandemic—a bigger increase than rural areas in any other state Redfin analyzed. It’s followed by neighboring Vermont and Maine, which saw respective increases of 139.2% and 137.3%.
These states top the list because they’ve seen the largest increases in home prices. The median rural home sale price in New Hampshire is up 88.3% from before the pandemic—a bigger increase than any other state Redfin analyzed. Next came Vermont and Maine, with respective increases of 86.6% and 85.1%.
Redfin research article continues. Please refer to Redfin’s analysis on its website for further information.