“It is impossible for a young person to own a home.” That was the opinion of my twenty-something nephew when we met over lunch a few months ago. He said that, despite having a good job, he could not afford a home – and that his parents had it easier when they bought their home.

Does my nephew have a point? Maybe. The national median single-family home price is now about five times the median household, according to a report by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. So, his point that his parents had it easier – does seem right. In 1990, the median home price was just 3.5 times the median household income, while today it is higher.

But, as the map above shows, there is great variability across the nation. In some regions home prices are over eight times the median income and in others they are closer to three times. So, affordable homes can still be found in some places.

My nephew lives and works in New York City. He has a good income but can’t afford to live where he wants to live. Read that as “in Manhattan or Brooklyn.” As I think about his situation, I wonder if he could afford a home if he expanded his horizons. For example, affordable homes in cities like Baltimore or Philadelphia with Amtrak service to New York could be an option if his employer allowed remote work, only occasionally requiring him to commute to the office.

Moving might not be the right solution for him, but it has been the path to greater opportunities for many. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave settlers 160 acres of federal lands if they built a home and farmed the land for five years. The law has since been repealed, but today there are still opportunities to put down a stake. Some communities in Baltimore present urban homesteading opportunities. Programs provide grants to help people buy and fix up vacant properties. One, known as “Buy Into BMore,” allows an individual to purchase a city-owned vacant property for $1 if they have at least $90,000 to renovate it and will live there for at least five years. I’ll talk more about those programs in a future post.

So yes, housing in general has become less affordable. But there still are ways to put down roots if you are willing to look for opportunities in more transitional neighborhoods. That does come with more risk. Homesteaders of any era take risks to settle down in a place they can call their own.