Eggs a dozen
5.5 minutes 8.1 minutes
costs more work than in 1985 · ×1.47
1980 peak 2025 · 20252025
$0.80 in 1985 · $4.25 today · $2.41 in today's dollars
Cost · published inputs + derived figures
What does it cost, in hours of your life?
A price is easier to feel as time than as money. Most sections divide a published price by the hourly wage from the same year. The opening housing section asks a different question: what principal and interest on an 80% mortgage took from that year’s median household income.
Published source series + labelled arithmetic · nothing here is simulated · exact inputs linked beside each section
Every time price below divides by the published average hourly wage: $31.34 an hour in 2025.
Derived BLS price ÷ BLS hourly wage, every measured item in the catalog
What actually changed, ranked
Every one of the 23 things BLS publishes an average price for, ordered by how much the working time changed. 5 take more work than they used to; 18 take less.
Read the bar: price ÷ hourly wage in the latest year, against the same division in the first year both series cover. Right of centre means it costs more working time now, left means less. Bars are log-scaled, so ×2 and ×0.5 are drawn as equal and opposite. The starting year differs per item because the published series begin in different years, and it is named in the last column.
Five columns — scroll the table sideways for the rest.
| Item | Change | Ratio | Then → now | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eggs | ×1.47 | 5.5 minutes → 8.1 minutes | 1985 | |
| Ground beef | ×1.37 | 8.5 minutes → 12 minutes | 1985 | |
| Lettuce | ×1.17 | 5.0 minutes → 5.8 minutes | 2006 | |
| Potatoes | ×1.02 | 1.8 minutes → 1.8 minutes | 1987 | |
| Bacon | ×1.01 | 13 minutes → 13 minutes | 1985 | |
| Bread | ×0.94 | 3.8 minutes → 3.6 minutes | 1985 | |
| Heating oil | ×0.93 | 7.4 minutes → 6.9 minutes | 1985 | |
| Coffee | ×0.88 | 18 minutes → 16 minutes | 1985 | |
| Beer | ×0.84 | 4.2 minutes → 3.5 minutes | 1996 | |
| Oranges | ×0.84 | 3.7 minutes → 3.1 minutes | 1985 | |
| Sugar | ×0.81 | 2.4 minutes → 2.0 minutes | 1985 | |
| Ice cream | ×0.77 | 16 minutes → 12 minutes | 1985 | |
| Butter | ×0.76 | 15 minutes → 11 minutes | 1985 | |
| Gasoline | ×0.75 | 8.3 minutes → 6.2 minutes | 1985 | |
| Chicken | ×0.75 | 5.2 minutes → 3.9 minutes | 1985 | |
| Flour | ×0.74 | 1.5 minutes → 1.1 minutes | 1985 | |
| Orange juice | ×0.73 | 12 minutes → 8.8 minutes | 1985 | |
| Utility gas | ×0.72 | 4.3 minutes → 3.1 minutes | 1985 | |
| Electricity | ×0.64 | 33 seconds → 21 seconds | 1985 | |
| Rice | ×0.62 | 3.2 minutes → 2.0 minutes | 1985 | |
| Milk | ×0.60 | 13 minutes → 7.8 minutes | 1996 | |
| Pork chops | ×0.57 | 14 minutes → 8.2 minutes | 1998 | |
| Bananas | ×0.49 | 2.5 minutes → 1.2 minutes | 1985 |
What this ranking cannot say. It compares each item against its own first published year, and those years differ, so the ranking is not a like-for-like race over one shared window. It credits wage growth to everyone equally and says nothing about who received it. And it cannot see quality: neither the item nor the hour worked is the same thing it was.
Derived BLS prices for each item × your quantities ÷ BLS hourly wage
A week's shop, in hours of work
A single item lands in minutes, which is easy to shrug at. Nine of them land in hours. Change any quantity and both totals move; leave them and this is one plausible week.
Read the totals: every quantity × that year's published price, divided by that year's hourly wage. Each item is priced in both years. An item published in only one of them is left out entirely, rather than silently changing what the basket contains between columns.
Four columns — scroll the table sideways for the rest.
| Item | Quantity | 1985 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eggs a dozen | 1 | $0.80 | $4.25 |
| Bread a pound | 2 | $1.11 | $3.74 |
| Chicken a pound, whole | 2 | $1.53 | $4.12 |
| Bananas a pound | 2 | $0.73 | $1.29 |
| Rice a pound | 1 | $0.47 | $1.05 |
| Sugar a pound | 1 | $0.35 | $1.02 |
| Coffee a pound | 0.5 | $1.29 | $4.09 |
| Ground beef a pound | 1 | $1.24 | $6.09 |
| Flour a pound | 1 | $0.21 | $0.56 |
1985
53 minutes
$7.73 at $8.73/hour
2025
50 minutes
$26 at $31/hour
What this basket cannot say. It is a plausible week, not a measured one: BLS publishes the price of each item, never what any household actually buys. The quantities are a starting point and yours will differ, which is the point of being able to change them. It also prices only these 9 things, not rent, not fuel, not anything with no published price, so it is a shopping total and never a cost of living.
Derived BLS price ÷ BLS hourly wage · CPI comparison shown separately
Food and drink at home
19 items
The things a weekly shop is actually made of, at the average price BLS records for them.
Read each line: price ÷ hourly wage × 60 = minutes of work. Higher means more working time. The outlined dot marks the series peak; the filled dot the latest year. Beneath each line, the first sticker price, latest sticker price and first price converted to latest-year dollars by CPI are shown separately.
Bread a pound
3.8 minutes 3.6 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.94
1980 peak 2008 · 20252025
$0.55 in 1985 · $1.87 today · $1.65 in today's dollars
Milk a gallon
13 minutes 7.8 minutes
costs less work than in 1996 · ×0.60
1996 peak 1996 · 20252025
$2.62 in 1996 · $4.07 today · $5.38 in today's dollars
Coffee a pound
18 minutes 16 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.88
1980 peak 1980 · 20252025
$2.58 in 1985 · $8.18 today · $7.72 in today's dollars
Ground beef a pound
8.5 minutes 12 minutes
costs more work than in 1985 · ×1.37
1984 peak 2015 · 20252025
$1.24 in 1985 · $6.09 today · $3.70 in today's dollars
Chicken a pound, whole
5.2 minutes 3.9 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.75
1980 peak 1980 · 20252025
$0.76 in 1985 · $2.06 today · $2.28 in today's dollars
Bacon a pound
13 minutes 13 minutes
costs more work than in 1985 · ×1.01
1980 peak 2014 · 20252025
$1.94 in 1985 · $7.02 today · $5.80 in today's dollars
Pork chops a pound
14 minutes 8.2 minutes
costs less work than in 1998 · ×0.57
1998 peak 1998 · 20252025
$3.09 in 1998 · $4.26 today · $6.10 in today's dollars
Butter a pound
15 minutes 11 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.76
1980 peak 1980 · 20112011
$2.12 in 1985 · $3.60 today · $4.43 in today's dollars
Ice cream a half gallon
16 minutes 12 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.77
1980 peak 1981 · 20252025
$2.30 in 1985 · $6.37 today · $6.88 in today's dollars
Bananas a pound
2.5 minutes 1.2 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.49
1980 peak 1980 · 20252025
$0.37 in 1985 · $0.65 today · $1.10 in today's dollars
Oranges a pound, navel
3.7 minutes 3.1 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.84
1981 peak 1991 · 20252025
$0.53 in 1985 · $1.60 today · $1.59 in today's dollars
Lettuce a pound, romaine
5.0 minutes 5.8 minutes
costs more work than in 2006 · ×1.17
2006 peak 2021 · 20252025
$1.39 in 2006 · $3.04 today · $2.23 in today's dollars
Potatoes a pound
1.8 minutes 1.8 minutes
costs more work than in 1987 · ×1.02
1987 peak 1990 · 20252025
$0.28 in 1987 · $0.96 today · $0.78 in today's dollars
Rice a pound
3.2 minutes 2.0 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.62
1980 peak 1981 · 20252025
$0.47 in 1985 · $1.05 today · $1.41 in today's dollars
Flour a pound
1.5 minutes 1.1 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.74
1980 peak 1980 · 20252025
$0.21 in 1985 · $0.56 today · $0.63 in today's dollars
Sugar a pound
2.4 minutes 2.0 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.81
1980 peak 1980 · 20252025
$0.35 in 1985 · $1.02 today · $1.06 in today's dollars
Orange juice 16 ounces, concentrate
12 minutes 8.8 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.73
1980 peak 1990 · 20252025
$1.75 in 1985 · $4.59 today · $5.25 in today's dollars
Beer 16 ounces
4.2 minutes 3.5 minutes
costs less work than in 1996 · ×0.84
1996 peak 1996 · 20252025
$0.84 in 1996 · $1.83 today · $1.72 in today's dollars
Derived BLS price ÷ BLS hourly wage · CPI comparison shown separately
Energy and fuel
4 items
What it costs to move, heat and light — the prices that move fastest and get noticed first.
Read each line: price ÷ hourly wage × 60 = minutes of work. Higher means more working time. The outlined dot marks the series peak; the filled dot the latest year. Beneath each line, the first sticker price, latest sticker price and first price converted to latest-year dollars by CPI are shown separately.
Gasoline a gallon
8.3 minutes 6.2 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.75
1976 peak 1981 · 20252025
$1.20 in 1985 · $3.26 today · $3.60 in today's dollars
Electricity a kilowatt-hour
33 seconds 21 seconds
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.64
1979 peak 1984 · 20252025
$0.08 in 1985 · $0.18 today · $0.24 in today's dollars
Utility gas a therm
4.3 minutes 3.1 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.72
1979 peak 2008 · 20252025
$0.63 in 1985 · $1.62 today · $1.89 in today's dollars
Heating oil a gallon
7.4 minutes 6.9 minutes
costs less work than in 1985 · ×0.93
1979 peak 2008 · 20252025
$1.08 in 1985 · $3.62 today · $3.23 in today's dollars
Reconstructed CPI component index against the hourly wage · ratio only, never minutes
Things with no published price
4 items
Nobody publishes the average dollar price of a month's rent, a semester, a seat on a plane or a cinema ticket the way BLS publishes the price of eggs. What exists is a price index. An index has no dollars in it, so it cannot be divided by a wage. The only honest thing it supports is a ratio: how much more, or less, work it takes than in a chosen base year.
Read each figure: the index in the latest year over the index in the base year, divided by the same ratio for wages. ×1.00 means it takes exactly the work it did then. The curve is normalised so the base year sits at 1.00.
Rent a month, primary residence
Reconstructed index, not a price
×0.87 the work it took in 1964
costs less work than in 1964
1964 peak 1964 · 20252025
Relative to 1964, not a count of minutes — no dollar price is published for this.
A cinema or concert ticket one admission
Reconstructed index, not a price
×0.94 the work it took in 1999
costs less work than in 1999
1999 peak 2005 · 20252025
Relative to 1999, not a count of minutes — no dollar price is published for this.
Tuition, school fees and childcare
Reconstructed index, not a price
×2.80 the work it took in 1978
costs more work than in 1978
1978 peak 2017 · 20252025
Relative to 1978, not a count of minutes — no dollar price is published for this.
An airline fare
Reconstructed index, not a price
×0.88 the work it took in 1964
costs less work than in 1964
1964 peak 2000 · 20252025
Relative to 1964, not a count of minutes — no dollar price is published for this.
Two limits, and they are not small. A CPI component is quality-adjusted — the index tracks a constant-quality version of the thing, so a 1964 apartment and a 2025 apartment are treated as comparable when they are not. That adjustment is precisely what the rest of this page leads with time prices to avoid, and these four figures walk it back in. Second, the ratio depends on where you start: tuition reads ×2.74 against 1980 and ×1.23 against 2000, from the same series. Neither is the true number, because there is no single true number. That is why the whole curve is drawn and the base year is named on every figure. Vehicles and hospital services were considered and left out: both are adjusted so heavily that a reconstructed figure would be closer to fiction than measurement.
Housing
Buying, on every axis the published data allows: what the payment took, how that compares at the same age a generation apart, what two purchase vintages owe in the same year, and where in the country it costs most. Each holds something different fixed, and none of them is the whole answer. Renting is in the section above, because no dollar price is published for it.
Derived mortgage arithmetic on Census prices and income · Freddie Mac rate
What buying a house cost
A 20% deposit and a 30-year fixed at that year's going rate, against that year's median household income. The line is the share of income the payment took, every year from 1984 to 2024.
Read the line: monthly principal and interest ÷ monthly median household income. Higher means the benchmark payment consumed more income. Price, mortgage rate and income can each move it; this is not a home-price line.
1984 peak 1984 · 20242024
Peak burden 40% in 1984. Both the price and the rate move this line, and they have moved in opposite directions at times — 1984's 13.88% rate made a $79,950 house cost 40% of income, while 2024's 6.72% rate on $418,975 costs 31%.
1984
$79,950
- Mortgage rate
- 13.88%
- Monthly payment
- $752
- Share of median income
- 40% · cost burdened
- Deposit, in months of income
- 8.6
2024
$418,975
- Mortgage rate
- 6.72%
- Monthly payment
- $2,167
- Share of median income
- 31% · cost burdened
- Deposit, in months of income
- 12.0
What the labels mean. “Share of median income” is twelve principal-and-interest payments ÷ annual median household income. “Deposit, in months of income” is the 20% deposit ÷ one-twelfth of annual income; it is an equivalent-income ratio, not a forecast of how long saving takes. “Cost burdened” marks this principal-and-interest ratio above 30%, not the fuller official housing-cost measure.
What this leaves out. Property tax, homeowners insurance, maintenance and transaction costs are excluded; PMI is not included because the example assumes a 20% deposit. These principal-and-interest figures are not the full cost of owning, and the omitted costs may change both the level and the trend. The Atlanta Fed's Home Ownership Affordability Monitor ↗ includes a broader cost stack for recent years.
Check it: Median sales price ↗ 30-year rate ↗ Median household income ↗
Three more ways to ask it same age a generation apart · two purchase vintages · by state
Derived arithmetic on the Census, Freddie Mac and BLS series above
When your parents were your age
The same question asked at the same point in a life, ten years apart each time: what the median home cost someone turning 30, in that year's prices, that year's mortgage rate, and that year's wage. Age 30 is a chosen milestone, not a natural constant — but holding it fixed is the only way to compare cohorts without assuming when people buy.
Read the columns: years to buy outright = median price ÷ (hourly wage × 2,080 full-time hours). Payment hours/month = that year's principal and interest ÷ that year's hourly wage. “Same payment in 2025” keeps the old nominal payment fixed and divides it by the 2025 wage; “paid off” means the original 30-year term has ended.
Six columns — scroll the table sideways for the rest.
| Turned 30 in | Median price | Rate | Years of work to buy it outright | Payment, hours/month then | Same payment in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975born 1945 | $39,275 | 9.05% | 4.0 | 54 | paid off |
| 1985born 1955 | $84,275 | 12.43% | 4.6 | 82 | paid off |
| 1995born 1965 | $133,475 | 7.93% | 5.5 | 67 | paid off |
| 2005born 1975 | $236,550 | 5.87% | 7.1 | 69 | 36 |
| 2015born 1985 | $294,150 | 3.85% | 6.7 | 52 | 35 |
| 2025born 1995 | $415,400 | 6.60% | 6.4 | 68 | 68 |
Two things here contradict the usual telling. The price in working years peaked at 7.1 in 2005 and is 6.4 now, so it did not rise without pause. And the hardest month-to-month entry was not the most recent one: 1985's 12.43% rate cost 82 hours of work a month against 68 today. The rate moves this as much as the price does.
What this leaves out. The median home is not the same home across fifty years — it is bigger and better equipped now, and no division fixes that. The last column assumes the original loan was held and never refinanced, moved out of, or borrowed against, which most owners do not do. It is principal and interest only: tax, insurance and maintenance are not fixed and have risen.
Check it: Median sales price ↗ 30-year rate ↗ Average hourly earnings ↗
Derived published price, rate and wage series, amortised
Two purchase vintages, one payment year
Each example uses the median American home price from its own purchase year — 2005 and 2025 — not the same property. Both put down a fifth and signed a thirty-year fixed. In the month each loan began, principal and interest took 69 and 68 hours of work. Here is what those two payments take in 2025.
Read the large numbers: each loan's fixed monthly principal and interest ÷ the 2025 hourly wage. The entry row instead uses the wage from the purchase year. The ×gap compares those working-hour results in 2025; it is not a house-price ratio or a total ownership-cost ratio.
Bought in 2005
36 hours of work a month
in 2025
- Bought for
- $236,550
- Rate locked at
- 5.87%
- Payment, then and now
- $1,119
- Cost the month they bought
- 69 hours
- Years left to pay
- 10
A fixed payment is frozen in the dollars of the year it was signed. The wage it comes out of is not. This payment has not changed by a cent in 20 years — it now takes 49% less of a working month than it did on day one.
Buying in 2025
68 hours of work a month
in 2025
- Bought for
- $415,400
- Rate locked at
- 6.60%
- Payment, then and now
- $2,122
- Cost the month they bought
- 68 hours
- Years left to pay
- 30
This loan starts at 2025's median price, mortgage rate and wage. Its first-month principal and interest take no more working time than the 2005 example did at entry.
In 2025, principal and interest on the 2025 benchmark take ×1.9 as many working hours as the still-running payment on the 2005 benchmark.
What this leaves out. These are different median-priced homes in different purchase years, not the same property or a quality-adjusted match. The comparison is principal and interest only; it omits tax, insurance, maintenance, transaction costs, refinancing, moves, later borrowing and accumulated equity. The 2005 example also carried its higher initial burden for years and paid $47,310 up front. This calculation cannot establish which buyer had an easier life or housing history.
Check it: Median sales price ↗ 30-year rate ↗ Average hourly earnings ↗
Derived state listing price ÷ state hourly wage, both published in dollars
Where a house costs the most working years
The price-to-wage division, done state by state: median listing price ÷ (state hourly wage × 2,080 full-time hours). The result is working years to buy outright. One colour means the same value in every year, so a darker state always means more working years, not merely a higher rank that year.
2017 — hardest Hawaii at 12.5 years of work, easiest Ohio at 3.0. The country spans ×4.2 between them.
2018 — hardest Hawaii at 11.9 years of work, easiest Ohio at 3.3. The country spans ×3.7 between them.
2019 — hardest Hawaii at 11.5 years of work, easiest West Virginia at 3.4. The country spans ×3.3 between them.
2020 — hardest Hawaii at 9.9 years of work, easiest West Virginia at 3.3. The country spans ×3.0 between them.
2021 — hardest Hawaii at 10.7 years of work, easiest West Virginia at 3.2. The country spans ×3.3 between them.
2022 — hardest Hawaii at 12.0 years of work, easiest Ohio at 3.6. The country spans ×3.4 between them.
2023 — hardest Hawaii at 11.6 years of work, easiest Ohio at 4.0. The country spans ×2.9 between them.
2024 — hardest Hawaii at 10.7 years of work, easiest West Virginia at 4.0. The country spans ×2.7 between them.
2025 — hardest Hawaii at 9.8 years of work, easiest Ohio at 4.0. The country spans ×2.4 between them.
The gap between the hardest and easiest state on this measure narrowed, from ×4.2 in 2017 to ×2.4 in 2025. That means state listing-price-to-wage burdens converged by this ratio; it does not mean states became more alike overall. The largest rise was New Hampshire, from 5.4 to 7.9 working years (+48%), while Hawaii, the highest-cost state in 2025, moved the other way (-22%).
Every state's figure, 2017 to 2025
9 year columns — scroll the table sideways for the rest.
| State | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaiiprice ↗wage ↗ | 12.5 | 11.9 | 11.5 | 9.9 | 10.7 | 12.0 | 11.6 | 10.7 | 9.8 |
| Montanaprice ↗wage ↗ | 6.8 | 6.9 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 8.7 | 10.4 | 10.2 | 9.6 | 9.2 |
| Massachusettsprice ↗wage ↗ | 6.9 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.8 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 8.7 |
| Californiaprice ↗wage ↗ | 8.4 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 9.1 | 9.6 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.2 | 8.6 |
| New Yorkprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.6 | 6.4 | 7.0 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 7.9 | 8.2 | 8.4 | 8.2 |
| Idahoprice ↗wage ↗ | 6.1 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 9.3 | 9.8 | 9.2 | 8.6 | 8.1 |
| Utahprice ↗wage ↗ | 6.8 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.9 | 9.1 | 9.2 | 8.8 | 8.5 | 8.1 |
| New Hampshireprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.4 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.3 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.9 |
| Rhode Islandprice ↗wage ↗ | 6.1 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 7.0 | 7.3 | 7.2 | 7.4 |
| Nevadaprice ↗wage ↗ | 7.0 | 7.2 | 6.5 | 6.4 | 7.5 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 7.4 |
| Oregonprice ↗wage ↗ | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.6 | 7.3 |
| Washingtonprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.7 | 6.1 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.2 |
| Delawareprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 6.3 | 7.4 | 7.6 | 7.4 | 7.1 |
| Wyomingprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 6.8 | 7.3 | 7.2 | 7.1 |
| Coloradoprice ↗wage ↗ | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 7.9 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 7.5 | 7.1 |
| New Jerseyprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 7.0 |
| Vermontprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.6 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 6.9 |
| Maineprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.7 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 6.7 | 6.8 |
| Arizonaprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.9 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 6.7 |
| Tennesseeprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 6.9 | 7.2 | 6.9 | 6.7 |
| New Mexicoprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.7 | 6.3 | 6.8 | 6.7 | 6.5 |
| Connecticutprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 6.3 | 6.6 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 6.4 |
| Floridaprice ↗wage ↗ | 6.3 | 6.3 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 6.5 | 7.5 | 7.2 | 6.6 | 6.0 |
| Virginiaprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.1 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 5.9 |
| North Carolinaprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 5.9 |
| South Dakotaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 5.8 |
| Marylandprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.8 | 5.7 | 5.8 |
| Alaskaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Wisconsinprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.4 |
| Georgiaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.8 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 6.2 | 5.9 | 5.4 |
| South Carolinaprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.5 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 5.4 |
| Nebraskaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 5.1 |
| Texasprice ↗wage ↗ | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.6 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.4 | 5.1 |
| Alabamaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| North Dakotaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Mississippiprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.0 |
| Kentuckyprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 4.9 |
| Arkansasprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 4.8 |
| Minnesotaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 4.8 |
| Oklahomaprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.9 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 4.7 | 4.6 |
| Pennsylvaniaprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Louisianaprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.5 |
| Iowaprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.5 |
| Missouriprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.4 |
| Kansasprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.4 |
| Indianaprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| Illinoisprice ↗wage ↗ | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| Michiganprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.2 |
| West Virginiaprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Ohioprice ↗wage ↗ | 3.0 | 3.3 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| District of Columbia | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
What this leaves out. Median LISTING price (Realtor.com via FRED), not a sales price. Listings skew toward unsold inventory and run above transacted prices. It is also the whole listed home against one worker's wage, with no mortgage in it — the loan sections above do that job — so these are working years to buy outright, not years to pay a house off. State wages begin in 2007 and state listing prices in 2016, which is why this map starts at 2017 while the rest of the page reaches back to the sixties.
Source definitions: median listing price ↗ and average hourly earnings ↗. California is shown here; every state row above links its exact two series.
How to read this, and what it cannot tell you
Three lenses disagree on purpose
The sticker price, the CPI-adjusted price, and the hours of work often move in opposite directions. Showing one and calling it the answer is how a page like this becomes an argument. The hours are led with because they need no inflation adjustment at all.
Why not just adjust for inflation
The Boskin Commission ↗ estimated that CPI overstated inflation by about 1.1 percentage points a year. A later BLS review ↗ describes both upward- and downward-bias arguments and the difficulty of measuring quality change. A time price avoids choosing a CPI adjustment; it does not settle that dispute, and it substitutes an average-wage denominator with the limits below.
What a time price hides
It credits wage growth, so it says nothing about who received that growth. It uses one worker's hour, not a household's. And it cannot see quality: a 2025 car is not a 1964 car, and no division fixes that.
Published inputs, derived figures
The source inputs are published series. Every number Pheme calculates from them — a division, ratio, CPI conversion or amortisation — is labelled Derived at section level. Source links sit beside each section, and every state row links its exact price and wage series. Nothing on this page is simulated. That is the opposite of the rest of Pheme, and the distinction is the point.
Wage denominator: Average hourly earnings ↗ · price level: CPI ↗ · data 1964–2025 via FRED ↗.