Choosing a profession should combine something you enjoy doing that also happens to pay you well enough so you can enjoy a comfortable life. Home inspection fits the bill for over 30,000 hard-working men and women in the United States – but, like most other career paths, not all opportunities are created equal for home inspectors.
The places you serve will most likely have the largest impact on your financial success.
You may be one of the few inspectors in a semi-rural stretch of your state, but the lack of competition will probably be counterbalanced by the area’s much slower real estate market when compared to highly-populated urban metropolitan areas. And that’s just the start when it comes to assessing the impact of location on your business prospects.
So, what makes a state the “best” place to set up shop as a home inspector?
The wages you can expect to earn are a key factor, but your cost of living, the strength of the local real estate market, your certification and other regulatory requirements, and even the climate, can all affect your ability to make a good living inspecting homes.
Whether you’re a new entrant looking to break into the field, or a seasoned professional considering a move, understanding these factors can help you build a career that’s not only professionally rewarding, but financially worthwhile as well.
Let’s dive right in to assess some of these critical factors, so you can try to figure out whether you should stay put or start considering a move to greener pastures.
The best states for home inspectors by median wages
Everyone knows folks in some states earn more than folks in others – but how much more can you really earn as an inspector?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wage – the money a home inspector can expect to earn if their income lands exactly in the middle of the range between the nation’s highest-earning and lowest-earning inspectors – was $61,640 a year in 2021.
As you might expect, certain states that tend to employ lots of high-income professionals also tend to provide higher earnings for the typical home inspector. California leads the way on this front, with several expected (Washington State and Connecticut) and one somewhat unexpected (Nevada) states rounding out the top five:
| State | Median Inspector Earnings | Difference vs. US Median |
| California | $93,600 per year | 52% more |
| Connecticut | $83,690 | 36% more |
| Nevada | $82,130 | 33% more |
| Washington | $81,970 | 33% more |
| Alaska | $81,860 | 33% more |
| Oregon | $81,250 | 32% more |
| New Jersey | $79,750 | 29% more |
| Minnesota | $78,600 | 28% more |
| Massachussetts | $77,930 | 26% more |
| New York | $75,960 | 23% more |
| US National Average | $61,640 per year | 0% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The best states to be a home inspector by cost of living
Income alone isn’t everything, of course. Earning six figures in San Francisco, Seattle, or New York City will probably be worth less in the real world than earning a comfortable five-figure income would be in the middle of Texas or Tennessee.
Let’s take a look at the cost of living across the country, with the help of Missouri’s Economic Research and Information Center, to figure out which states cost the least to live in, and would therefore allow you to stretch your income much further.
Costs of living are typically represented as an index number, which means they’re compared against a baseline set at 100 – in this case, that baseline is the average cost of living across the entire United States. Lower or higher numbers differ by the percentage represented by its difference from the index baseline – for example, and index value of 80 represents 80% of the baseline, and an index value of 200 represents 200%. We’ll look at overall costs of living as well as the cost of housing, which is often the single largest expense you’ll have from month to month…
| State | Cost of Living Index | Housing Cost Index |
| Mississippi | 85.3 | 68.6 |
| Oklahoma | 86.0 | 68.0 |
| Kansas | 87.7 | 69.4 |
| Missouri | 88.4 | 77.2 |
| Alabama | 88.8 | 70.4 |
| Iowa | 89.7 | 72.4 |
| Nebraska | 90.1 | 78.4 |
| West Virginia | 90.3 | 70.9 |
| Arkansas | 90.3 | 76.3 |
| US National Average | 100 | 100 |
Source: Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (ERIC).
None of our top-earning states show up on this cost-of-living list. But since we do know how much each state’s median wage is for home inspectors, we can perform some adjustments to demonstrate what your earnings might actually be worth.
| State | Cost of Living | Median Inspector Earnings | Buying Power* |
| Mississippi | 85.3 | $50,090 per year | $58,722 |
| Oklahoma | 86.0 | $51,080 | $59,395 |
| Kansas | 87.7 | $58,240 | $64,881 |
| Missouri | 88.4 | $52,960 | $59,910 |
| Alabama | 88.8 | $52,870 | $59,538 |
| Iowa | 89.7 | $64,480 | $71,884 |
| Nebraska | 90.1 | $60.560 | $67,381 |
| West Virginia | 90.3 | $58,140 | $64,385 |
| Arkansas | 90.3 | $49,030 | $54,297 |
| US National Average | 100 | $61,640 per year | $61,640 |
Source: Missouri ERIC and BLS.
* Buying power calculated by adjusting earnings by cost of living index.
And what about our top-earning states?
Let’s adjust those too, to see if they still rank among the best states to be an inspector…
| State | Cost of Living | Median Inspector Earnings | Buying Power* |
| California | 134.5 | $93,600 per year | $69,960 |
| Connecticut | 113.1 | $83,690 | $73,996 |
| Nevada | 101.3 | $82,130 | $81,076 |
| Washington | 115.1 | $81,970 | $71,216 |
| Alaska | 124.4 | $81,860 | $65,803 |
| Oregon | 115.1 | $81,250 | $70,591 |
| New Jersey | 114.1 | $79,750 | $69,895 |
| Minnesota | 94.1 | $78,600 | $83,528 |
| Massachussetts | 148.4 | $77,930 | $52,513 |
| New York | 125.1 | $75,960 | $60,719 |
| US National Average | 100 | $61,640 per year | $61,640 |
Source: Missouri ERIC and BLS.
* Buying power calculated by adjusting earnings by cost of living index.
As you can see from these adjustments, the gulf in “cost-of-living earnings” between working as a home inspector in California and working in Kansas isn’t as wide as you might think from just looking at the numbers by themselves.
In fact, with these adjustments, Minnesota and Nevada jump into consideration for the absolute best states for inspectors to work in, as their costs of living are close to (or even below) the national average.
While most states on the list for lowest costs of living don’t gain enough with these adjustments to make it into the “new” top ten, Iowa has jumped into the top five, and the low costs of living in Nebraska, Kansas, and West Virginia mean inspectors can enjoy a better standard of living, despite earning less money, than their compatriots in New York and Massachusetts, which gets absolutely walloped by high costs.
The best states for home inspectors by real estate market strength
No matter how great your inspection business is, it’s not likely to make a lot of money if the housing market is in a deep freeze.
Earlier this year, Fit Small Business analyzed every state’s real estate market to identify the strongest (and weakest) markets. These rankings were assessed based on median housing prices, available inventory, new home construction volume, household income (which impacts buyers’ ability to afford the median housing price), and average mortgage rates in each state.
Let’s take a look at the top 10 state housing markets now, both on an overall ranking basis and in terms of their rankings on the key factors their impacting housing market strength…
| Overall Rank | State | Median Housing Price | Available Inventory | New Construction |
| 1 | Texas | 31 ($187,200) | 2 (83,222) | 1 (248,648) |
| 2 | California | 2 ($538,500) | 3 (56,209) | 3 (109,157) |
| 3 | New York | 9 ($325,000) | 4 (38,554) | 11 (39,022) |
| 4 | New Jersey | 6 ($343,500) | 13 (16,767) | 13 (34,795) |
| 5 | Colorado | 4 ($369,900) | 12 (16,857) | 7 (46,118) |
| 6 | Washington | 5 ($366,800) | 17 (14,207) | 8 (45,957) |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 3 ($398,800) | 28 (8,836) | 28 (16,817) |
| 8 | Maryland | 8 ($325,400) | 27 (9,992) | 27 (17,985) |
| 9 | Georgia | 28 ($190,200) | 5 (30,267) | 5 (72,059) |
| 10 | Virginia | 12 ($282,800) | 16 (14,651) | 12 (36,899) |
Source: Fit Small Business.
What are the best states to be a home inspector?
Texas seems to be a great state to set up shop, with affordable housing prices, high levels of available housing inventory, and tons of new home construction underway. It’s also got a reasonable cost of living – its index score was just 93.0, below every state on the “highest-earning” list – and its median wage for home inspectors is slightly above the national average, at $62,250. Hardworking home inspectors in Texas have all the factors in their favor to build a comfortable life in the profession.
But Texas is hardly the only state where home inspectors can thrive.
Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, and New Jersey all show up on both the list of highest median wages for inspectors, and on the list of strongest housing markets. Their costs of living, while above the national average, aren’t so high as to seriously impact an inspector’s quality of life.
Minnesota and Nevada, where reasonable costs of living give inspectors earning the median wage a buying power equivalent of over $80,000, are also good choices for inspectors looking to put down new roots (or expand existing roots). Minnesota ranks 16th on Fit Small Business’ list of best state housing markets, and Nevada is just two places behind at 18th.
But no matter where you live and work, you can build a comfortable life as a home inspector. It might not be as straightforward or as simple as getting a 9-to-5 job, but the opportunities exist for anyone with the drive, dedication, and willingness to network and market themselves to develop a strong reputation in their local real estate communities.
And no matter where you are in your inspection career, ISN has tools and systems to help you build a stronger business with less effort, so you can focus on what you do best – being a great inspector who’s committed to giving every client the honest truth about their prospective property.
Check out what ISN can do for your inspection business and try it today when you activate a fully-featured 30-day free trial!