Purchasing your first home can be a major step in life, but an increasing number of young buyers are opting to delay that step until later. If your immediate assumption is that the mortgage market is keeping more professionals from buying a house, you could be overlooking a key step in the process: the down payment. Depending on which state you call home, that down payment can represent a big obstacle to home ownership, according to the results of a study by GOBankingRates. The study looked at median home prices and median incomes for the 25-44 age group in each state to get a sense of how long it would take to save up the suggested down payment of 20 percent of the home's selling price, based on the 50-30-20 budgeting rule where you save 20 percent of your income each year. More from GOBankingRates:

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States with the richest and poorest retirees The resulting data revealed that in 16 states it would take more than five years to sock away the cash necessary to make a down payment.

South Carolina

Median home price: $239,000

Down payment needed: $47,800

How long it takes to save: Five years, 1.2 months Although South Carolina's median home price isn't unreasonably high, the median annual income for millennials of $46,898 — the lowest of the 16 states on this list — delays the time it takes to buy a house.

North Carolina

Median home price: $250,000

Down payment needed: $50,000

How long it takes to save: Five years, 2.2 months Just across the border in North Carolina, circumstances are very similar to those of its neighbor to the south. With an even $50,000 necessary for the average down payment, North Carolinians must save for more than 62 months to have enough to make the down payment on a house.

Downtown Scottsdale and suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, with the White Tank Mountain Range in the background. JacobH | Getty Images

Arizona

Median home price: $270,000

Down payment needed: $54,000

How long it takes to save: Five years, 3.1 months Even after saving up for more than half a decade just to scrape together a down payment, Arizona homeowners still have to make an average mortgage payment of more than $1,260 per month, which is higher than most other states.

Utah

Median home price: $337,500

Down payment needed: $67,500

How long it takes to save: Five years, 4.8 months Although millennials in Utah earn a healthy median income of $62,518 per year, they still need more than $65,000 for a down payment because median home prices are on the high side. On average, it will take them five-plus years to save up for a down payment.

Washington

Median home price: $349,950

Down payment needed: $69,990

How long it takes to save: Five years, 6.8 months Washington is another state where millennials are earning good wages, but they also have to save up a lot to have enough for a down payment. You'll need almost $70,000 to get to 20 percent of an average home, which will take the average millennial more than five-and-a-half years to do. Seattle is one of the worst cities for aspiring millennial homeowners.

Nevada

Median home price: $299,500

Down payment needed: $59,900

How long it takes to save: Five years, 7.7 months Not only will millennials in Nevada need almost $60,000 for a typical down payment, but their average mortgage rate of 4.33 percent is the highest of the 16 states on this list and the second-highest in the country behind Minnesota's 4.36 percent.

Idaho

Median home price: $277,500

Down payment needed: $55,000

How long it takes to save: Five years, 7.7 months Idaho's comparatively low median home price is offset by the fact that the median annual income for earners between 25 and 44 is less than $50,000, meaning it will ultimately take almost 68 months to save up for a down payment.

People wait to cross a street in Times Square in the rain in New York City. Gary Hershorn | Getty Images

New York

Median home price: $345,000

Down payment needed: $69,000

How long it takes to save: Five years, 8.2 months In much of the country, it's more cost-effective to own a home, rather than rent. Still, saving while renting can be especially difficult for residents of the Empire State, where the high median home price pushes the time necessary to reach an average down payment to nearly six years.

Florida

Median home price: $285,000

Down payment needed: $57,000

How long it takes to save: Five years, 9.9 months Floridians might have low housing prices compared with other states, but that comes with lower incomes as well. It takes much less cash to get to a 20 percent down payment in Florida than it does in New York, but it'll still take two months longer at the lower income level. One good thing about Florida: It has some of the best to own investment property.

Massachusetts

Median home price: $415,000

Down payment needed: $83,000

How long it takes to save: Five years, 10.2 months Median incomes for millennials in Massachusetts are above $70,000 per year, but median home prices are well over $400,000, meaning it will take more than 70 months of saving 20 percent of your income before you'll have a full down payment.

Montana

Median home price: $299,999

Down payment needed: $60,000

How long it takes to save: Six years, 2.4 months You would think that Montana, with its relatively modest average down payment of $60,000, wouldn't appear this high on the list. However, the state's low wages — the median annual income for ages 25-44 is just $48,380 — mean it will take more than six years for the average millennial Montanan to save up that $60,000.

Colorado

Median home price: $405,000

Down payment needed: $81,000

How long it takes to save: Six years, 5.7 months With more than $80,000 necessary for a down payment in Colorado, it will take most millennials about six-and-a-half years to scrape together the money. Even after reaching that milestone, they're not out of the woods. The average mortgage in the state will mean monthly payments of $1,813, one of the highest in the country. Be mindful when buying in Colorado: The state might be in a new real estate bubble.

Astoria, Oregon. Getty Images

Oregon

Median home price: $350,000

Down payment needed: $70,000

How long it takes to save: Six years, 6.8 months Oregon's housing market is pretty similar to the one just north in Washington, with the two states seeing only a $50 difference in median home prices. That said, millennials in Oregon earn much less money on average, with a median income of $53,270 vs. Washington's $62,848. That's the main reason it takes an additional year in Oregon to save up the $70,000 down payment.

District of Columbia

Median home price: $535,000

Down payment needed: $107,000

How long it takes to save: Seven years, four months Washington, D.C. boasts the highest median income for millennials of all of the 16 states listed here, at $72,935 per year. But it still requires one of the longest wait times to save up a down payment because of the whopping $107,000 average down payment necessary to buy a house in the nation's capital.

California

Median home price: $495,000

Down payment needed: $99,000

How long it takes to save: Seven years, 9.1 months Life in California isn't cheap, with the median home price coming in just below $500,000 dollars. Even though the state's millennials earn a median annual income of more than $60,000, they still need more than seven-and-a-half years to put together the $99,000 they need to get started on their first home purchases.

Hawaii