This receipt uses the September 28, 2026 source retrieval, with August 2026 ZHVI and AHETPI observations. October names the publication month, not the data month. All historical rows and the August 2025 year-ago comparison are recomputed from this vintage; June and July receipts retain their published values. Revisions to source history can change comparisons between receipts. The CPI counterfactual holds the latest annual observation available in this committed snapshot (2024) flat thereafter; it is a reference path, not observed 2025 or 2026 inflation.
2026-10-02 · noticeTHE RECEIPT
October 2026: Starter home costs 2.96 work-years.
At these assumptions: national bottom-tier ZHVI ($200,549.86, 2026-08) divided by AHETPI ($32.53, 2026-08), using 2,080 hours per work-year. Down 0.03 work-years from a year ago at the same source vintage (change calculated before rounding).
CORRECTION NOTICE
Print notices
Components
| Component | Status | Hours | Work-years | 1-year direction | Source stamp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter home | core | 6,165 hours | 2.96 work-years | Down 0.03 work-years | Zillow ZHVI bottom tier, national; BLS AHETPI wage denominator · 2026-09-28 |
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
Not included in this receipt
The headline uses average hourly earnings for private production and nonsupervisory employees. It does not represent a median worker or household.
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Financing-adjusted housing
Not included in this receipt
Full home acquisition price is measured here; mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, maintenance and a down-payment savings timeline are excluded.
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Sticker-vs-net tuition
Not included in this receipt
No tuition value or composite is published until the net-tuition pipeline is available.
Source manifest
| Source | Retrieved | Scope | License note |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLS/FRED AHETPI | 2026-09-28 | U.S. private production and nonsupervisory hourly earnings | BLS public-domain data via FRED; cite both retrieval paths. |
| Zillow ZHVI bottom tier | 2026-09-28 | U.S. national bottom-tier home values | Citation-required; raw Zillow columns are not redistributed in this artifact. |
| Aspire derived wage-pace baseline | 2026-09-28 | 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 | 2026-09-28 | Counterfactual using the frozen annual CPIAUCSL snapshot through 2024; annual values are interpolated by decimal year and the 2024 value is held flat thereafter. Not observed 2025 or 2026 inflation. | BLS public-domain data via FRED; derived counterfactual reference, not a prediction or fair-value estimate. |
REPRODUCIBILITY
This print is generated from JSON.
The public bundle contains the selected headline calculation inputs, Aspire-derived hours/work-years, frozen annual CPI inputs, and an arithmetic check. It does not include the full raw Zillow source table or fetch historical source vintages.