Which states have the highest lender overlay barriers? Based on 2024 CFPB HMDA data — 827,561 FHA originations, 239,641 denials across all 50 states + DC.
State OFI shows market-level friction. Your individual approval depends on which lender you choose. Ask Zai to find the lowest-overlay lender for your specific profile — free, no SSN required.
Data: CFPB HMDA 2024 · FHA Home Purchase · Originated + Denied · Download JSON (CC BY 4.0) · Not financial advice.
⚠️ Statistical note: States with similar OFI scores may have very different sample sizes. Delaware (OFI 54.1, n=4,827) and Georgia (OFI 54.1, n=56,188) share the same score but Georgia's estimate carries significantly higher statistical confidence due to volume. States with fewer than 5,000 total applications (AK, DC, HI, MT, ND, SD, VT, WY) should be interpreted with caution. OFI = (state_denial_rate / national_avg_22.5%) × national_OFI_47.
Prices and rates are widely reported. Whether a lender says yes is not. In the complete 2025 federal record, denial rates across the 100 largest FHA lenders ran from 1.8% to 78.7% — same programme, same year.
And it is not simply who applies where: standardizing on state, loan amount, income, debt-to-income and loan-to-value, applicant mix explains only a 2.7× range in expected outcomes.
CFPB HMDA 2025, computed by FinanceRateCalc. Covers the highest-volume lenders published per market, not all lenders. Historical observations, not predictions. CC BY 4.0, not independently reproduced.