This article extends previous research by the authors on the spatial and temporal evolution of housing values across the United States to examine the impact of the 2007 financial crisis. The specific goals are to (a) document certain pre- and postcrisis trends in the nation’s economic landscape, (b) estimate a series of simple income capitalization models aimed at weighing the relative importance of household income versus amenities in the aftermath of the recession, (c) examine the present state of the “plane of living” that households navigate when choosing where to live, and (d) posit an observation for public and private policy. The analysis considers the role of both natural and human amenities and, holding those factors constant, evaluates the extent to which the influence of income has waxed and waned over the course of the 2000 to 2010 decade. A key finding is that through the crisis the value of the contemporary plane of living, measured as the difference between 2007 and 2010, fell dramatically in major parts of the country.
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