The cost of buying a home here in the U.S. is skyrocketing! Home values are near record highs at the moment.

Dakota News Now reports that you now need a six-figure income to buy a new home in 22 states in the nation, along with the District of Columbia.

According to a recent study done by Bankrate, just four years ago, there were only six states in the nation where a resident needed to have a six-figure income to be able to afford to buy a typical new home, things have changed dramatically since then.

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The Bankrate article says the median-priced home in the U.S. is now around $402,343. That means a large number of Americans are now required to have an annual income of at least $110,871 to qualify for a home mortgage. That figure is up 46% since the start of 2020.

If you live in California, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, and Washington State you'll need to be pulling down some big bucks to be able to buy a home. The Bankrate study showed those five states required the highest annual income to afford a typical new home. The data showed home buyers must earn between $156,814 and $197,057 to secure a mortgage in those states.

Conversely, those of us living in Mississippi, Ohio, Arkansas, Indiana, and Kentucky require the lowest levels of income. A person will only need to earn between $63,043 and $65,186 annually.

So what about South Dakota?

Good news, according to Zillow, the average median home value in South Dakota right now is around $292,551. So fortunately, if you live in a Midwestern state like South Dakota, and aspire to be a homeowner soon, you're living in one of the states that require the least income to afford a typical home.

Midwestern states and those in the South fall into that category.

Higher-priced homes throughout the country are going to be found in Western and Northeastern states.

What's behind the big home price hike?

Rising mortgage rates and home shortages are the two biggest culprits.

Rising rates have caused the income needed to afford a median-priced home to increase everywhere nationwide. Mortgage rates jumped more than three full percentage points in the last few years. In January 2020, the average 30-year fixed rate was 3.68 percent, compared to 7.07 percent as of March 20 of this year.

Unfortunately, the average worker's wages have not kept up with the cost of homes.  20% of aspiring homeowners now believe they will never be able to save enough to be able to buy a home someday.

Source: Dakota News Now/Bankrate