Thinking about buying a home in Centre County? It might be more difficult than you think, according to a new analysis.

A recent NBC News study examined “the dismal state of the U.S. housing market” using its Home Buyer Index, which represents the difficulty a potential buyer would likely face while attempting to buy a home. The latest index report released in late May found extraordinarily tough conditions across the country, especially in Mid-Atlantic and western states.

NBC News developed its Home Buyer Index alongside industry experts and with the help of real estate data, financial figures and forecasting techniques. Overall, it assesses market conditions from a buyer’s perspective and offers insights for nearly every state and county across the U.S.

Here’s what you need to know about the Home Buyer Index’s latest findings for Centre County, Pennsylvania and beyond.

Is Centre County’s housing market affordable?

Not necessarily, according to NBC News’ Home Buyer Index.

Overall, the difficulty of buying a home in Centre County checked in at 77.5 out of 100 as of April 2024. That figure was the fifth-highest of the 35 Pennsylvania counties included in the report, which suggests higher ranks coincide with tougher housing markets.

NBC News’ index is developed by examining cost, competition, scarcity and economic instability within each state and county. Centre County received more positive ratings for its cost (69 out of 100) and scarcity (66.4) but had its overall score impacted by high competition (97.9) and economic instability (85.7).

According to an NBC News visualization tracking overall affordability, Centre County was one of only two Pennsylvania counties deemed “unaffordable” — a label the outlet framed as anywhere a median-income household could not afford a median-priced home. Wayne County was also deemed unaffordable, while Cameron and Huntingdon counties were not represented.

Centre County’s median income sits at roughly $76,000 per year as of April 2024, while about an $82,000 salary would be needed to eventually afford a median-priced home, NBC News reports.

Homes are selling quickly in Centre County, according to NBC News’ index. The median home sells after roughly 10 days on the market, and nearly 27% of them sell for more than their listing price. More than 60% of the county’s homes leave the market within two weeks, the index report reads.

A March 2024 report from the Centre County Association of Realtors — the latest available — indicates the county’s median home sale price sat at roughly $344,912 that month. Here’s a quick rundown on some other insights compiled by the county’s realtors association for March 2024, including a few figures that differ from some of NBC News’ findings:

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• New listings: 130 (up from 120 in February)

• Median sale price: $344,912 (up from $341,000 in February)

• Closed sales: 83 (up from 45 in February)

• Active listings: 185 (up from 177 in February and March’s five-year average of 171)

• Median days on the market: 19 (up from about 12 in February)

How is the rest of the country’s real estate market performing?

Overall, the NBC News Home Buyer Index sits at 82.4 for the entire country. That figure, estimated out of 100, indicates the nation is observing “extremely tough conditions” with 26 states holding at least one county represented within the 100 counties featuring the most difficult housing markets.

Conditions are especially tough in Colorado, which is home to three of the most difficult counties in the U.S., NBC News’ report claims. Conditions are far better in parts of Illinois, Michigan, Arkansas and Kentucky, which the index suggests feature some of the most favorable housing markets in the country.

Continued demand is putting a large strain on housing markets, NBC News finds. The NBC News Home Buyer Scarcity Index, which measures existing inventory and new construction, among other factors, stands at 84.8 out of 100, climbing significantly higher than pre-pandemic normals of below 60.

The average homebuyer has likely seen their purchasing power decrease over the past few years. According to NBC News’ findings, a household earning the median income could afford to buy a median-priced home in roughly 94% of U.S. counties in 2019. That figure has dropped to 63% now that homes in many areas — namely Florida and West Coast states — are seeing their prices climb.

How NBC News builds its Home Buyer Index

According to its methodology report, NBC News completes monthly real estate analyses by combining real estate and financial data with forecasting techniques.

NBC News collects data from several sources, including the real estate site Redfin, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Those data points are later cleaned, filtered for quality and transformed so data can be scaled to make component variables comparable across the country. The NBC News team then combines data to generate its index, which represents a single, aggregate measure of homebuyer difficulty in which zero represents the least difficult market possible and 100 represents the most difficult.

Visit nbcnews.com/data-graphics/us-home-buyer-index-data-cost-availability-difficulty-rcna139257 to learn more about NBC News’ Home Buyer Index and the methodology behind each report. You can also look up individual metrics and trends for any county across the U.S.