Hubble tension or distance ladder crisis?

We present an up-to-date compilation of published Hubble constant (${H}_{0}$) measurements that are independent of the cosmic microwave background sound horizon scale. This compilation is split in two distinct groups: A. Distance ladder measurements sample comprising of 20 recent measurements, primarily from the past four years, utilizing various rung 2 calibrators and rung 3 cosmic distance indicators. B. One-step measurements sample including 33 measurements of ${H}_{0}$ that are independent of both the cosmic microwave background sound horizon scale and the distance ladder approach. These 33 measurements are derived from diverse probes such as cosmic chronometers, gamma-ray attenuation, strong lensing, megamasers etc. Statistical analysis reveals a significant distinction between the two samples. The distance ladder-based sample yields a best fit ${H}_{0}=72.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{km}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\text{ }{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{2}/\mathrm{d}.\mathrm{o}.\mathrm{f}.=0.51$ indicating some correlations. The one-step measurements result in ${H}_{0}=69.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.48\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{km}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\text{ }{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{2}/\mathrm{d}.\mathrm{o}.\mathrm{f}.=1.37$ indicating some internal tension. If two outlier measurements are removed (TDCOSMO.I-2019 known to have systematics and MCP-2020), then the best fit of the one-step sample reduces to ${H}_{0}=68.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{km}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\text{ }{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{2}/\mathrm{d}.\mathrm{o}.\mathrm{f}.=0.95$, fully self-consistent and consistent with sound horizon based measurements. An alternative, restricted subsample of the one-step measurements with correlated measurements removed, leads to a best fit ${H}_{0}=68.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.8\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{km}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}\text{ }{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{2}/\mathrm{d}.\mathrm{o}.\mathrm{f}.=1.08$ demonstrating the robustness of our results. These findings suggest that the core of the Hubble tension lies not between early and late-time measurements, but between distance ladder measurements and all other ${H}_{0}$ determinations. These findings suggest that understanding the origin of the Hubble tension requires careful investigation of both possible systematic effects and potential new physics affecting cosmic distance ladder measurements.