Massachusetts Is Facing ‘Immense Housing Affordability Challenges’

Many Massachusetts workers don't earn enough money to afford to buy a home. For some, hopes of achieving the American Dream are slipping away.

For millions of young Americans, life today is more challenging than what their parents experienced.

Pioneer Institute Senior Housing Fellow Andrew Mikula wrote in his newsletter The House Call, "Massachusetts is facing immense housing affordability challenges amidst scant new home production and high interest rates, with most of the eye-popping numbers concentrated around Greater Boston."

"In June 2025, Banker & Tradesman columnist Scott van Voorhis documented that 35 eastern Massachusetts cities and towns now have median single-family home prices over one million dollars," according to Mikula.

According to Mikula, a September 2025 American Community Survey (ACS) indicates that, "among Massachusetts cities with a population above 65,000, Lawrence had both the highest median home value and the highest median rent as a share of the citywide median household income in 2024."

Fall River was second, according to the ACS report. New Bedford ranked eighth out of 19 cities listed.

The Pioneer Institute reports home prices in the state are much higher than what an average household can comfortably pay.

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According to data from the Institute, Newton has the highest median household income in Massachusetts, $179,800, and the highest median home value at $1.3 million.

New Bedford ranks 17th with an average household income of $57,200 and a median home value of $395,400. In contrast, Fall River is last, with an average household income of $50,800 and a median home value of $417,700.

The most recent information from The Warren Group shows single-family home prices in Massachusetts continue to rise, up eight percent from a year ago. The median single-family home price in Massachusetts for September 2025 was $625,000, a 4.2 percent  annual increase.