Original research

Where selling a house is hardest in America

We scored all 52 states on a 0–100 Selling Difficulty Index built from local incomes, price-to-income strain, and market depth across 6,562 cities. Higher score means a seller waits longer and negotiates harder.

Dataset vintage 2026-01-15

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10 hardest states to sell

10 easiest states to sell

Full ranking

#	State	Difficulty	Median city income	Price-to-income	Cities scored
1	Puerto Rico	88	$24,120	8.17	81
2	Arizona	78	$60,925	5.78	69
3	Nevada	78	$70,979	6.24	21
4	Idaho	77	$57,737	6.29	34
5	Montana	77	$56,570	6.59	25
6	Oregon	77	$60,323	6.32	78
7	Florida	76	$60,751	5.66	249
8	Washington	72	$70,865	8.33	129
9	Colorado	71	$77,794	7.4	71
10	California	69	$79,978	10.88	530
11	Utah	69	$74,133	7.18	55
12	Washington D.C.	65	$108,030	8.58	1
13	Georgia	64	$56,152	4.61	211
14	New Mexico	62	$56,934	4.2	36
15	Tennessee	62	$53,146	4.31	143
16	Virginia	62	$71,725	5.4	145
17	North Carolina	61	$54,605	4.47	238
18	Hawaii	59	$87,446	11.14	27
19	Texas	59	$63,117	4.15	377
20	Maine	57	$64,530	5.35	41
21	New York	56	$88,689	6.21	383
22	Vermont	56	$68,697	5.18	17
23	Delaware	55	$65,226	5.01	27
24	South Carolina	54	$55,533	3.93	126
25	South Dakota	54	$61,059	3.68	15
26	New Hampshire	52	$82,477	6.26	42
27	Missouri	51	$56,821	3.27	132
28	Nebraska	51	$63,239	3.26	29
29	Rhode Island	51	$83,485	6.1	32
30	Minnesota	49	$75,502	4.34	104
31	Indiana	48	$59,119	3.3	152
32	Kansas	48	$62,411	3.25	58
33	Kentucky	48	$52,606	2.91	111
34	Wisconsin	48	$67,796	3.97	137
35	Wyoming	48	$68,139	4.53	17
36	Alabama	46	$55,289	3.07	135
37	North Dakota	46	$72,401	3.58	12
38	Ohio	46	$61,136	3.11	265
39	Oklahoma	46	$56,108	2.74	84
40	Arkansas	45	$52,156	2.72	81
41	Alaska	44	$83,079	4.75	15
42	Massachusetts	44	$93,251	7.79	234
43	Michigan	44	$62,644	3.29	254
44	New Jersey	43	$97,507	6.53	310
45	Iowa	42	$64,956	2.96	69
46	Illinois	42	$73,117	3.64	296
47	Louisiana	42	$58,836	2.69	115
48	Maryland	41	$97,873	5.26	137
49	Mississippi	40	$51,344	2.42	96
50	Pennsylvania	40	$69,483	3.58	356
51	West Virginia	38	$57,026	2.17	46
52	Connecticut	31	$99,090	4.84	114

Methodology

The index blends three components, each normalized 0–1 against national reference points and then weighted: affordability strain (40%), income strain (35%), and market thinness (25%).

Affordability strain, estimated median home value divided by median city income. Ratios near 2.0 score as easy, 6.5 and above as hard.
Income strain, median of city mean household incomes (Census ACS) across every city of 7,500+ residents in the state.
Market thinness, population centers per 100,000 residents. Fewer centers means a smaller local buyer pool and longer time on market.

Home values are estimated from each state's median home value, adjusted for city size and local income, the same estimator used across our market reports. This is a modeled index, not recorded sale data, it compares markets to each other rather than predicting an individual sale.

Cite this study

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Home Posted, "Where Selling a House Is Hardest in America" (2026-01-15).
https://homeposted.com/research/hardest-places-to-sell

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