Dave Ramsey says to never take out more than a 15-year mortgage — and now he’s getting roasted for it online

Rebecca Holland

Wed, Jun 4, 2025, 4:00 AM 7 min read

Dave Ramsey has upset his fanbase with financial advice that many are calling out of touch in the current economic climate.

Last month, we covered Ramsey’s latest advice on mortgages, where he advised listeners on his popular show to never take out a mortgage of more than 15 years, as this will cost you thousands of dollars more in the long run.

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However, users on X — as well as readers of a right-wing website called Not The Bee — are doing the math and showing just how difficult it is to get in on the housing market at all, let alone to be able to afford a home with a shorter mortgage term.

The @FinancialPhysics X account posted a breakdown of how much homebuyers in the U.S. would have to make per year after taxes to afford the average home price in America — a whopping $190,000.

The video further calculated the cost of a house in Mississippi, where the average home prices are the lowest in the country at $180,000, according to the figures in the video. Assuming you spend no more than a quarter of your take home pay on your mortgage, you’d still need to earn $95,000 per year to afford a 15-year mortgage in Mississippi.

The caustic comments posted on X and elsewhere about Ramsey’s advice were described as “an absolute bloodbath.” Below, we’ll take a closer look at the financial realities of buying a home in America today, and how you can make the math work for you.

Checking up on the figures in the video, the math on mortgages more or less works out. According to Zillow, the current average home price in the U.S. is $367,711. Assuming a mortgage rate of 7.04% — the current national average — and a standard 20% down payment, your monthly mortgage payment would be $2,651 on a 15-year loan, according to Bankrate’s mortgage calculator. A down payment that’s smaller than 20%, or $73,542, would net out to monthly payments around $3000 per month.

In terms of income, the figures for what makes a high-income individual vary widely by state, but across the board, an income of $335,891 per year puts you in the top 5% in this country. The @FinancialPhysics video also correctly reports the real median household income in the U.S. — $80,610 as of 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — which is well below the income levels for 15-year mortgages that we detailed above.