Chart of the Day — July 31, 2026

Chart of the Day

July 31, 2026

Cost of Living • Housing

It Took 3.3 Years of Income to Buy a Home in 2000. Today It Takes 5.3.

Congress just passed a housing bill. The chart says it’s going to need a bigger bill.

Median Home Price ÷ Median Household Income

2000

3.3x

2005

4.7x

2010

3.5x

2019

4.0x

2022
(Peak)

5.4x

2026
(Today)

5.3x

Historical norm (1960–2000): 2.5x–3.5x

Source: NAR, U.S. Census Bureau, June 2026

You probably remember what your first house cost. Maybe it was $95,000. Maybe $140,000. Whatever the number, it was somewhere around three years of your household income. That was normal. That was how America worked for half a century.

Now look at the chart. By 2005, it had crept up to 4.7x. The bubble popped, and the ratio dropped back to 3.5x in 2010. Most people assumed that was the reset—the correction that put things right. It wasn’t.

Here’s what most people get wrong. They think the 2022 spike to 5.4x was a pandemic fluke—low rates, panic buying, Zoom towns. They figured it would come back down. It barely budged. Today the median home is $440,600 against a median income of roughly $84,000. That’s 5.3x. We went from “fluke” to “new normal” in four years.

And here’s the part that really gets me. On Tuesday, the Fed held rates steady for the fifth straight meeting. The 30-year Treasury yield jumped to its highest level since 2007. That means mortgage rates—sitting at 6.76% this week—aren’t going anywhere. The monthly payment on that median home is now $2,300. In 2000, it was $824.

The ROAD to Housing Act became law without the President’s signature on July 11th. Bipartisan. Overwhelming margins. But no bill changes the math in that chart. Incomes grew 99% since 2000. Home prices grew 217%. That gap doesn’t close with a ribbon-cutting.

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Chart of the Day — July 31, 2026

If you’re a grandparent watching your kids or grandkids try to buy their first home... the game they’re playing has different rules than the one you played. And this week, the Fed made sure those rules aren’t changing anytime soon.

The Takeaway

“In 2000, the median American home cost 3.3 times the median income. Today it costs 5.3 times. The monthly payment went from $824 to $2,300—and mortgage rates just hit a one-year high.”

If you own your home free and clear, you’re sitting on one of the best assets in America right now. If your kids don’t... that’s a conversation worth having this weekend. Not about handouts. About strategy. About timing. About what this chart means for their next five years.

More tomorrow. Stay sharp.

— Ray Calloway

*Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.

*The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.

*Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com.

*Mode cumulative revenue includes full year revenue of businesses acquired in 2025.

The Monthly Payment on a Median Home Went From $824 to $2,300

It Took 3.3 Years of Income to Buy a Home in 2000. Today It Takes 5.3.

Elon says AI will replace jobs. This company built the solution.

Universal income may be coming. Mode isn’t waiting.

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