Naperville and Frisco show how high housing costs squeeze middle-class families

These suburbs are getting harder to enter

Naperville and Frisco still attract families, but buying there is tougher than many middle-class households expect. SmartAsset’s 2026 study says Frisco has the third-highest upper bound for middle-class income among the 100 largest U.S. cities. Its range runs from $96,963 to $290,888.

Redfin’s latest city snapshot also shows Frisco’s median sale price at $710,000. Those figures show how a suburb can look successful while still becoming harder for ordinary buyers to reach.

Naperville’s appeal comes with a high price

Naperville remains one of the strongest suburban markets in Illinois, and that helps keep costs high. Census data for 2020 through 2024 shows a median household income of $155,105, a median owner-occupied home value of $540,200, and median monthly owner costs with a mortgage of $3,154.

Niche also places Naperville near the top of Illinois suburb rankings. A place with strong schools, steady demand, and high household earnings can become difficult for middle-class families trying to buy their first house.

Frisco grew fast and housing followed

Frisco’s size and speed of growth help explain its rising costs. Census says the city had 200,509 residents in 2020, up from 116,989 in 2010. From April 2020 to July 2024, its population rose by another 17.3%.

Census also lists a median owner-occupied home value of $642,100 and median monthly owner costs with a mortgage of $3,386. Fast growth can bring jobs, stores, and schools, but it can also raise land values and push homes farther out of reach for many middle-class buyers.

Renting can block the path to ownership

Families do not need to buy a house to feel this squeeze. Census says Naperville’s median gross rent was $1,885 in 2020 through 2024, while Frisco’s was $2,014. Naperville’s owner-occupied housing rate was 74.8%, and Frisco’s was 65.9%.

Census also says 88.8% of Naperville residents and 84.5% of Frisco residents lived in the same house one year earlier. That points to stable communities, but it also suggests that families paying high rent may struggle to save enough cash to buy later.

School quality keeps demand strong

Good schools are one reason these suburbs stay expensive. Niche ranks Naperville 16th of 543 for places with the best public schools in Illinois and 16th of 294 for suburbs with the best public schools in the Chicago area.

Frisco ranks 8th of 416 for suburbs with the best public schools in Texas and 7th of 135 for places with the best public schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The census also shows high college attainment in both cities, which often matches strong demand from families.

Interesting fact: Naperville has been ranked as the #1 Best City to buy a house in America for 2026 by Niche.

The problem reaches far beyond two suburbs

Naperville and Frisco are not isolated cases. The National Housing Conference said in 2025 that 176 metro areas required a six-figure income in 2024 to buy a typically priced home with 10% down.

That was up from 30 metro areas in 2019. The same report said the needed income had doubled or more in 125 metro areas since 2019. That means the old idea that moving to a suburb automatically brings affordable family housing is not holding up across much of the country.

Many workers are falling behind costs

The housing strain is now hitting jobs that once looked secure. The National Housing Conference said 47% of tracked occupations could not afford a two-bedroom apartment in 2024, up from 38% in 2019. In 32 metro areas, the salary needed to rent that apartment comfortably now exceeds $75,000.

When housing costs rise faster than pay, a family can keep working full time and still lose ground. That is one reason middle-class households are feeling more pressure in high-demand suburbs and metro areas.

Rent burdens are moving up the income ladder

Harvard’s 2026 housing update shows the pressure is still spreading. It said 22.7 million renter households were cost-burdened in 2024, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. That came to 49% of all renters.

Another 12.1 million were severely burdened, paying more than half their income for housing. Harvard also said cost burdens had risen in 44 states and 88 of the 100 largest metro areas over the previous five years. Middle-income renters are now part of this problem, too.

Other affluent suburbs show the same pattern

Frisco is not the only suburb with an unusually high middle-class threshold. SmartAsset’s 2026 city list shows Irvine with an upper bound of $291,462, Arlington with $267,164, and Plano with $231,802. Those cities are in different regions, but they share a similar pattern of strong demand and high incomes.

Looking at places like these helps show that Naperville and Frisco are part of a broader national shift. More suburbs now combine top-tier amenities with prices that stretch or block many middle-class buyers.

Interesting fact: In 2001, Frisco became the first city in the U.S. to mandate that all new homes meet Energy Star standards.

Basic living costs are straining the middle class

Housing is part of a wider affordability problem. Brookings found in December 2025 that one-third of the American middle class could not afford basic necessities in 2023.

Its analysis covered 160 metro areas and found that in every one, at least 20% of middle-class households could not afford to live there after accounting for local prices and incomes. Brookings also found large racial gaps, with 27% of white middle-class families struggling compared with 50% of Latino or Hispanic middle-class families.

The middle class has been shrinking for years

This trend did not begin with today’s housing market. Pew Research found that from 2000 to 2014, the share of adults living in middle-income households fell in 203 of 229 U.S. metro areas. Nationally, the middle-income share dropped from 55% to 51% over that period.

Pew also said the middle class shrank more in metro areas where income inequality rose more. That longer pattern helps explain why high prices now feel like a deeper structural problem, not just a short-term jump in suburban home costs.

Local earnings and daily costs show the gap

City-level data also shows how close many households live to the affordability line. Census says Naperville’s per capita income was $73,721, while Frisco’s was $68,614. Poverty rates were low at 4.4% in Naperville and 3.6% in Frisco, but that does not erase cost pressure.

The Census also shows mean travel times to work of 30.5 minutes in Naperville and 28.6 minutes in Frisco. In higher-cost suburbs, even families with solid incomes can feel squeezed by housing, commuting, and everyday bills.

Homeownership in Dallas is declining as rising housing costs make buying harder. Find out more about how homeownership is slipping in Dallas as housing costs continue to climb, reflecting affordability pressure in the market.

More housing types could ease some pressure

One policy response is to allow more kinds of homes in expensive suburbs. The Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on March 12, 2026, by a vote of 89 to 10 as a substitute amendment to H.R. 6644.

The Bipartisan Policy Center says the package creates a $200 million annual competitive grant program for local governments and tribes that increases housing supply.

Steps like that matter because townhomes, duplexes, and smaller homes can give middle-class families more ways into suburbs that now lean too heavily toward higher-cost housing.

The housing market is seeing more unsold listings as buyer demand slows. Find out more about how the housing market sees a surge in unsold listings as demand cools, showing changing conditions in home sales.

Are rising housing costs pushing middle-class families out of the top suburbs? Share your thoughts below.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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