20 Great Cities With Shockingly Cheap Real Estate
There aren’t many silver linings to the coronavirus epidemic, but the low price of real estate in some cities may be one of them. While prices in some areas rose in 2020, there are still plenty of extremely affordable cities in America that also have high quality-of-life rankings.
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To help narrow down the choices, GOBankingRates looked at the 300 largest cities listed on real estate site Zillow and screened out those with prices of more than 75% of the national typical market value as of April 2021. Consumer Expenditure Survey data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Livability scores from AreaVibes were also incorporated to rank cities in reverse order of preference, with the top city listed last.
What’s clear from the rankings is that there are plenty of cheap cities in the American South and Midwest, with Texas alone occupying 12 of the top 20 slots. Ohio and Iowa also make impressive showings.
Last updated: June 10, 2021
20. Cleveland, Ohio
Average home value: $84,852
Livability score: 62
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,507
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19. Laredo, Texas
Average home value: $162,448
Livability score: 74
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $18,374
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18. Beaumont, Texas
Average home value: $133,804
Livability score: 69
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,629
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17. Tyler, Texas
Average home value: $182,973
Livability score: 76
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,864
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16. Norman, Oklahoma
Average home value: $193,216
Livability score: 84
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $19,986
15. Toledo, Ohio
Average home value: $91,916
Livability score: 64
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,320
14. Lubbock, Texas
Average home value: $166,972
Livability score: 74
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,571
13. Canton, Ohio
Average home value: $124,415
Livability score: 67
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $16,779
12. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Average home value: $168,204
Livability score: 78
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $18,455
11. Des Moines, Iowa
Average home value: $165,986
Livability score: 77
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $18,211
10. Waco, Texas
Average home value: $165,556
Livability score: 73
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,014
9. Akron, Ohio
Average home value: $87,635
Livability score: 66
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $16,870
8. Killeen, Texas
Average home value: $159,048
Livability score: 78
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,784
7. El Paso, Texas
Average home value: $158,947
Livability score: 79
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,828
6. Amarillo, Texas
Average home value: $155,978
Livability score: 79
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,623
5. Abilene, Texas
Average home value: $155,532
Livability score: 80
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,739
4. Brownsville, Texas
Average home value: $126,109
Livability score: 76
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,191
3. Edinburg, Texas
Average home value: $147,376
Livability score: 80
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,508
2. McAllen Texas
Average home value: $164,979
Livability score: 84
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $17,956
1. Fort Wayne, Indiana
Average home value: $170,341
Livability score: 81
Annual cost of living (excluding housing): $16,598
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John Csiszar contributed to the reporting for this article. Methodology: In order to find great cities with shockingly cheap real estate, GOBankingRates looked at the 300 largest cities in the U.S. for which Zillow publishes monthly data on single-family home values. Out of these 300 cities, GOBankingRates identified the 76 which had (1) a typical market value for single-family residences less than 75% of the national typical market value in April 2021. Then, GOBankingRates found each city's (2) livability score from AreaVibes, which scores cities on criteria like crime rate, employment, school quality, user review ratings, and more. Finally, GOBankingRates used 2019 Consumer Expenditure Survey data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and cost of living index scores from Sperling's Best Places to calculate (3) the total dollar amount residents of each city can expect to spend annually on necessities other than housing (including groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare). GOBankingRates then scored each qualifying city on factors (1-3) and ranked them against each other, with factor (2) weighted twice as heavily as factors (1) and (3). The final ranking highlights the highest-scoring cities, with no. 1 being the best overall. All data was collected on and up to date as of May 26, 2021.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 20 Great Cities With Shockingly Cheap Real Estate
