America’s recent housing boom moved prices beyond the means of average folks, new research shows.

Families whose full-time jobs pay between minimum wage and 120 percent of their area’s median income are less able to afford their own places today than 25 years ago, the Center for Housing Policy in Washington, D.C., reported Wednesday.

Between 1978 and 2003, the national homeownership rate climbed to nearly 70 percent from 65 percent but homeownership among these modest-income working parents slipped to 59.6 percent from 62.5 percent, center researchers found.

Housing costs have risen 30 percent faster than incomes since 1978, the study found.