Affordable housing has a technical meaning: homes priced for households in specific income bands tied to the area median income (AMI). Tiers are set as percentages of that median. Very-low and low-income tiers often fall around 30% to 50% of AMI, moderate income can run to roughly 80% or beyond, and some programs include tiers above 100% of the median. So a unit labeled affordable is priced for a household at a particular income level, and someone below that band can still be priced out. The exact thresholds and rules vary by state, county, and program, so check the specific development's income limits instead of assuming. The label makes more sense reframed as workforce housing: keeping teachers, police officers, firefighters, and similar earners able to live near where they work. That framing also explains the tension people feel in high-cost areas, where a single public-sector salary may never stretch to a market-rate home. If you are trying to figure out which programs or price points you actually qualify for, that is worth mapping before you shop, and it is exactly what we do on a free Roadmap conversation (about 20 minutes).