Researchers at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy institute say the typical Granite State family can no longer afford to live here.

Analyzing a number of costs, like monthly mortgage payments, child care, gasoline and health care, they found a median-income household with a family of four last year would have fallen nearly $1,900 short annually when covering only core household expenses according to a study the think-tank released Oct. 21.

That suggests many typical families may be going without essentials like saving, or missing key life stages like buying a house.

“Ten years ago, a typical family could cover the basics, pay for other essentials, and still have a modest cushion for emergencies and savings,” Nicole Heller, a senior policy analyst at NHFPI, said in a statement. “Today, that same family is falling short. Not because they’re earning less, but because the cost of living has grown so much faster than incomes.”

While prices for many luxuries like certain types of clothing, recreation, and technology have remained relatively stable or even declined since 2005, the cost of essentials such as food, housing, and health care has risen sharply, researchers found.

For example, the monthly mortgage payment for a median-priced home has more than doubled since 2015, rising 164 percent, while home prices overall have surged 275 percent since 1999, researchers said. A typical family buying a median-priced home in 2024 would need an income of $157,500 to avoid being cost-burdened, about $57,700 more than the state’s median household income.

And nearly half renter households in New Hampshire met the definition of cost-burdened in 2024, meaning they spent more than a third of their income on housing costs like rent.

Experts generally attribute the run-up in for-sale home prices and in rents to the lack of new construction in New Hampshire compared to the surge in demand from the Millennial generation forming families.

“The squeeze families are feeling isn’t a matter of personal budgeting – it’s a structural affordability crisis,” NHFPI Executive Director Gene Martin said in a statement. “When families can’t afford to live and work in New Hampshire, it threatens the long-term strength of our communities and our overall economy.”