Here's How Much You Need To Make To Buy A Home In NJ, Study Says

NEW JERSEY — It's no secret that buying a home in New Jersey can cost quite a lot of money. A recent study shows just how much income you would need to purchase a median-priced home in the Garden State — and that this amount has increased by more than 50 percent in the last five years.

Prospective homebuyers in 30 states and Washington, D.C. now need six-figure incomes to own a home at the typical price in their area, according to Bankrate's 2025 Housing Affordability Study. New Jersey is among these, and has the eighth-highest income needed to buy a typically-priced home, the study said.

Nationwide, the median sale price for homes in January was $418,489, with households needing to make $116,986 annually to afford that amount, according to the study.

This is almost a 50 percent increase since early 2020, when the income needed to buy a typical home was $78,236, Bankrate reported. The income amount takes into account homeowners' insurance, property taxes, and estimated monthly mortgage payments along with median home price figures from Redfin.

“Between elevated mortgage rates and the rise of home prices nationally to a record level, many aspiring homebuyers feel like owning a home is out of reach,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate.

And in New Jersey, the threshold is even higher — Home-buying hopefuls would need to pull in $160,001 to afford a home at the state's median sale price of $539,100 in January, according to the study. That's a 54.2 percent increase from January 2020, when buyers needed to make $103,794 to afford the typical home.

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