Most and least reasonably priced U.S. cities for getting a house
Shopping for a home is pricey, with common house gross sales costs surging lately. However there are offers available for those who’re prepared to be versatile on geography.
A variety of things contribute to the price of shopping for a house within the U.S., together with the value of the home or condominium itself, upkeep prices, tax charges and extra.
The median house gross sales value jumped from $313,000 within the first quarter of 2019, to $416,900 throughout the identical interval in 2025, in line with knowledge from the Federal Reserve Financial institution of St. Louis. Rates of interest have additionally shot up, with the common 30-year mounted mortgage price now standing at near 7%, up from a document low of two.65% in January 2021.
Excessive borrowing prices and restricted stock make it a difficult time to afford a house in a variety of U.S. cities, however there are metro areas the place the dream of house possession could also be inside attain for potential patrons, in line with a brand new WalletHub research.
House costs, upkeep and house owner’s insurance coverage prices, plus a metropolis’s value of dwelling, its actual property tax price, and residential stock, all contribute to a metropolis’s relative housing affordability.
Listed here are probably the most and least costly cities to purchase a house within the U.S.
Most reasonably priced cities
Flint, Michigan, ranked Quantity One on WalletHub’s listing of most reasonably priced cities for homebuyers primarily based on an evaluation of 10 metrics, together with low value of dwelling and reasonably priced house costs relative to residents’ incomes. At $61 per sq. foot, Flint additionally boasts the bottom median house value.
It is stock is nice, too: Practically 21% of homes within the metropolis are vacant, making it a purchaser’s market and providing potential homebuyers loads of choices.
Detroit, Michigan, is the second most reasonably priced metropolis for homebuyers, in line with the research, which in contrast prices throughout 300 U.S. cities. Median home costs are comparatively low, and over 22% of town’s housing is vacant.
Pittsburgh ranked third-most reasonably priced metropolis to purchase a home. Homebuyers there can get extra bang for his or her buck than renters.
Least reasonably priced cities
Against this, Santa Barbara, California, is the most costly metropolis within the U.S. for homebuyers, primarily due to its low housing affordability, amongst different elements. Additionally in California, Santa Monica ranked 299th by way of housing affordability, whereas Berkeley ranked third to final. Berkeley has the bottom rent-to-price ratio of the 300 cities, that means its cheaper to hire there, than to purchase a house.
Click on right here for the total rankings of the 300 most reasonably priced cities to purchase a house in.
