How Long Would It Take You To Save for a $500K Home in the Midwest?

Buying a home in today’s housing market, with its post-COVID era mortgage rates, can certainly be difficult (and pricey). Let’s say you locate your dream home in the lovely American Midwest for $500,000 — how long would it take you save up the 20% down payment ($100,000) for such a house?

Recently, GOBankingRates compiled the median income for a single person in each state in America, per the U.S. Census Bureau. With that information, the yearly savings amount of 20% of that income was calculated per state (also factoring in a monthly mortgage rate of $2,619 per state).

From that matrix, GOBankingRates was able to project just how long it would take you to save the 20% down payment needed for a $500,000 dream house in each Midwestern state.

• Median income for single person: $48,992
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $7,812
• How many years to save up down payment: 12.8

• Median income for single person: $40,986
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $6,609
• How many years to save up down payment: 15.1

• Median income for single person: $43,273
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $7,116
• How many years to save up down payment: 14.1

• Median income for single person: $42,323
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $6,858
• How many years to save up down payment: 14.6

• Median income for single person: $42,017
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $6,756
• How many years to save up down payment: 14.8

• Median income for single person: $51,687
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $8,290
• How many years to save up down payment: 12.1

• Median income for single person: $40,443
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $6,711
• How many years to save up down payment: 14.9

• Median income for single person: $43,148
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $7,057
• How many years to save up down payment: 14.2

• Median income for single person: $45,414
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $7,694
• How many years to save up down payment: 13.0

• Median income for single person: $41,653
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $6,808
• How many years to save up down payment: 14.7

• Median income for single person: $43,596
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $7,402
• How many years to save up down payment: 13.5

• Median income for single person: $46,629
• Yearly savings for 20% down payment: $7,550
• How many years to save up down payment: 13.2

Methodology: For this piece, GOBankingRates first found median income for a single person (defined in the American Community Survey as “non-family households”) for each state, as sourced from the 2023 American Community Survey as conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. GOBankingRates then set the down payment at 20% and assumed a person would be following the 50/30/20 rule where 20% of post-tax income goes toward savings and debt repayment. GOBankingRates then calculated how long it would take a single person in each state following the 50/30/20 rule to save for the down payment ($100,000) on a $500,000 home. From there GOBankingRates also calculated the 30-year fixed mortgage on a $500,000 home, assuming no private mortgage insurance, no homeowner’s association fees and no property tax, with a rate of 6.84% as sourced from Freddie Mac. All data was collected on and is up to date as of June 12, 2025.