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Mapped: The Most Affordable U.S. Cities to Buy a Home in 2025
Visual Capitalist ^ | 05/30/25 | Bruno Venditti

Posted on 05/30/2025 7:32:50 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

WalletHub analyzed 300 U.S. cities of varying sizes across ten metrics, including real estate tax rate, cost per square foot, median home price, and median household income. Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale, with 100 indicating the most favorable conditions for home affordability. For this map, only cities with a population over 100,000 were considered.

This map, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, shows the 20 most affordable U.S. cities to buy a home in 2025, according to data from WalletHub.

Detroit Tops the List for Home Affordability

Detroit leads the list, with a median price per square foot of around $87. The city has faced significant challenges over the decades, including financial crises and the decline of the auto industry, prompting many residents to leave.

Today, more than 22% of homes in Detroit are vacant, creating a strong buyer’s market. According to WalletHub, Detroit is also one of the top cities where buying a home offers greater long-term value than renting. The city was also considered the most affordable large American city in 2025, according to another study.

Also in the Rust Belt, Pittsburgh, PA, ranks as the second-most affordable city for homebuyers, with a median home price approximately 3.8 times higher than the median household income.

Like Detroit, Memphis, TN—ranked third—has also been highlighted as one of the most affordable large cities in the country for working families.

If you enjoyed this map, check out this map on Voronoi about the income needed to buy a home in every U.S. state.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: home; homeprices; housing; realestate
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To: SeekAndFind

“Rust belt” is a perjorative term thought up by coastal elites.


21 posted on 05/30/2025 8:27:45 PM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: SeekAndFind

No cities are on the list from the Sodomy Belt. That’s my answer to anyone who dares use the term Rust Belt.


22 posted on 05/30/2025 8:31:11 PM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: SeekAndFind

Detroit..... who’d thunked it. Some parts resemble blast zones no doubt due to offshoring moons ago.


23 posted on 05/30/2025 8:34:04 PM PDT by LastDayz (A Blunt and Brazen Texan. I Will Not Be Assimilated.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Detroit tops the list.

Go figure.

I heard you can find a cheap home in Kabul also.


24 posted on 05/30/2025 8:42:16 PM PDT by Red6
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To: SeekAndFind

Detroit — Its cheap for a reason.


25 posted on 05/30/2025 8:47:28 PM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: SeekAndFind

I would not encourage anyone but an enemy to move to that list of cities.


26 posted on 05/30/2025 9:06:42 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: dfwgator

“in a safe neighborhood“

I live in Memphis that is on this list. I’m in one of the “safe” neighborhoods. McMansion type neighborhood.

If I go out walking at night I hear automatic gunfire.Not semiautomatic, I know the difference.

I realize people here won’t believe me but it’s true.


27 posted on 05/30/2025 9:40:12 PM PDT by packagingguy
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To: SeekAndFind

Wow- all those places are shitholes. Good to know.


28 posted on 05/30/2025 9:42:01 PM PDT by Apparatchik (Русские свиньи, идите домой!)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Hate to admit it but that’s true. More blacks equal more problems. There’s no getting around this obvious fact.


29 posted on 05/30/2025 9:46:50 PM PDT by packagingguy
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I was going to say they are leaving out that these affordable homes are democrat run Sh@tholes


30 posted on 05/30/2025 10:17:45 PM PDT by Blue Highway
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To: SeekAndFind

Good Lord! Are they freakin kidding?! All blue and extremely high crime cities?! You’d be dead within 24 hours of settling in


31 posted on 05/30/2025 11:40:24 PM PDT by albie
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To: SeekAndFind

We are retired and looking to buy a smaller home next year. We are about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. I notice that the closer you get to Pittsburgh, the lower the prices The homes farther away, such as in Greensburg or Latrobe in Westmoreland county, cost more but are snapped up quickly. Moving to Pittsburgh is a hard NO!


32 posted on 05/31/2025 12:37:45 AM PDT by sneakers (It's not the democraTIC party! It's the demoCRAT party! )
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To: SeekAndFind

What a craptastic list of cities. There is a logical reason homes are affordable. Poor demand.


33 posted on 05/31/2025 4:14:44 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (America -- July 4, 1776 to November 3, 2020 -- R.I.P.)
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To: Labyrinthos
Detroit — Its cheap for a reason.

Yep. Like Gaza, but without the nice weather.

34 posted on 05/31/2025 4:50:31 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady (The greatest wealth is to live content with little. -Plato)
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To: SeekAndFind

LOL
By using cities with 100K plus population - they slanted it toward Blue cities...


35 posted on 05/31/2025 4:57:11 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Besides astronomical property taxes, most of the cities on the list are democrat run inner city shitholes (e.g., Baltimore, Detroit). Another reason why they are so affordable.


36 posted on 05/31/2025 4:58:03 AM PDT by No Party Affiliation
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To: SeekAndFind

Affordability does not translate into desirability. In fact, there is an inverse relationship, as the affordable index goes up, the desirable index drops, sometimes precipitously.


37 posted on 05/31/2025 5:39:40 AM PDT by alloysteel ( Divergence is not at all the same thing as diversity.)
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To: alloysteel

The other thing is desirable affordable homes tend to get scooped up by institutional investors who turn them into rental properties.


38 posted on 05/31/2025 5:41:56 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Just check which city has the highest crime rates and is run by Democrats for low cost living, completed with free muggings, break-ins, rapes, robberies, etc.


39 posted on 05/31/2025 5:51:54 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: SeekAndFind

Great if you want to live in a war zone. Home prices can be deceiving. I can buy a house in St. Louis city for $2,000. But it’s in. A nest of red board homes and shootings every night.


40 posted on 05/31/2025 6:45:27 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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