Nationally, yes, but barely. Locally, the math looks considerably better than the national headlines suggest.

The national number, and why it does not apply directly here

Redfin puts the income needed to afford the typical American home at $109,796 as of June 2026, against a median household income of $87,599, a gap of about $22,000. That statistic gets quoted often, and it describes a national benchmark built from a mix of cities that cost far more than Grants Pass does. Grants Pass’s median sale price ran $409,000 in June 2026. A market priced well below the national figure Redfin is measuring against needs proportionally less income to carry it, though the mortgage rate driving both numbers is the same one everyone is dealing with right now.

The local picture

Josephine County’s unemployment rate ran 6.2 percent in May 2026, per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, down from 8.0 percent in January, an improvement over the course of the year even though it still runs above the state average. Grants Pass issued 67 new business licenses in the past three months, a pace the Chamber of Commerce points to as a sign of confidence in the local economy. More people working, more storefronts opening, more small businesses signing leases: that is the economy underneath the mortgage rate headlines, and it is a different picture than the national story tells on its own.

What this means for you specifically

A national headline about affordability describes a national number. Your actual capacity to buy or carry a home depends on your income, your down payment, your credit, and the price of the specific home you are looking at, not a national average built from cities that cost twice what Grants Pass does. That is a conversation worth having directly rather than settling for a headline.

Book a Coffee Date and I will walk through what your numbers look like against this specific market, not the national one.

More questions: How much house can I afford? · Is it a buyer’s or seller’s market right now? · Should I wait until the economy is better to sell my home?