A new affordability index calculated by ATTOM tagged Rutherford County as one of five U.S. counties with worst affordability indexes in the third quarter of 2021. 

A typical home is still within the means of an average U.S. wage earner.  But historic affordability dropped in three-quarters of U.S. housing markets including Rutherford County as  national median home prices increased 18 percent to a new high.

Other counties identified by this grouping included Canyon County, ID (outside Boise), Blount County, TN (outside Knoxville), Ada County (Boise), ID, and Grayson County, TX (outside Dallas).