Zillow revised its published ZHVI bottom-tier history in the 2026-07-13 retrieval, so every historical row in this print is recomputed from the new vintage and sits about 1% above the June 2026 print (for example, 2000 Q1 is 2.09 work-years here versus 2.07 in June). The June print is unchanged as published; each print reports its own source vintage.
2026-07-18 · noticeTHE RECEIPT
July 2026: Starter home costs 2.99 work-years.
At these assumptions: national bottom-tier ZHVI ($201,053.63, 2026-05) divided by AHETPI ($32.38, 2026-06), using 2,080 hours per work-year. Down 0.04 work-years from a year ago.
CORRECTION NOTICE
Print notices
Components
| Component | Status | Hours | Work-years | 1-year direction | Source stamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter home | core | 6,209 hours | 2.99 work-years | Down 0.04 work-years | Zillow ZHVI bottom tier, national; BLS AHETPI wage denominator · 2026-07-13 |
Not measured yet
- Four years of college (net) No source-stamped value rendered until the CP-9 net tuition pipeline exists.
- Childcare No source-stamped value rendered until the childcare satellite pipeline exists.
- The price of financial independence No source-stamped value rendered until the financial-independence satellite pipeline exists.
Robustness annex
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Median-wage denominator cross-check
Published with each print
The headline is recomputed against CPS median usual weekly earnings converted with a stated 35-hour convention.
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Financing-adjusted housing
Published with each print
Monthly principal-and-interest hours are shown beside the acquisition lens.
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Sticker-vs-net tuition
Published with each print
Sticker tuition remains an annex series; the headline uses net tuition.
Source manifest
| Source | Retrieved | Scope | License note |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLS/FRED AHETPI | 2026-07-13 | U.S. private production and nonsupervisory hourly earnings | BLS public-domain data via FRED; cite both retrieval paths. |
| Zillow ZHVI bottom tier | 2026-07-13 | U.S. national bottom-tier home values | Citation-required; raw Zillow columns are not redistributed in this artifact. |
| Aspire derived wage-pace baseline | 2026-07-13 | 2000 work-years held constant: home price growing at the AHETPI wage rate. | Derived from the source-stamped ZHVI and AHETPI series above; no new external data. |
| FRED:CPIAUCSL annual CPI | 2026-07-13 | Counterfactual work-years if the 2000 starter-home price had grown only with CPIAUCSL; annual CPI values are linearly interpolated by decimal year, with the latest completed annual value used for later open periods. | BLS public-domain data via FRED; derived counterfactual reference, not a prediction or fair-value estimate. |
REPRODUCIBILITY
This print is generated from JSON.
Public artifacts contain Aspire-derived hours/work-year series and a source-fetch script path only; constrained raw source columns are excluded.