Most people my age who have purchased a home got significant help from their parents.
20% down payment isn't a myth; if you don't put 20% down (and don't have some special situation like a VA loan) you have to pay for private mortgage insurance which can be hundreds per month, as you're buying the lender insurance against the possibility of you defaulting on your loan.
Even with PMI I am still paying less than living in the same apartment year over year.
Commute in from a small investment home/condo to let equity + appreciation get you into the home you want a few years down the road. Even in my starter, I got twice the sqft for the same monthly as my not-very-close apt.
Looking at https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-p... (the "Married-Couple Families" section), the first data set ("All Races"), the numbers I see for median household income, by age, are:
25-29: $76.5k 30-34: $92k
30-34 is stretching the definitions of a "young couple", of course. I'd love numbers for 20-25, but this data set lumps in 15-24 all together, though the set of married couples under 20 is presumably pretty small.
$76k is still not $100k, of course.
