Cities with Jobs and < $100,000 Houses (or "Where to start a family") (cheap home)

[stjohnneumann]

Looking to start a family in a year or so and need a nice, affordable environment in which to do it. Are there any decent places to live with good jobs and housing under $100,000? All suggestions appreciated.

[cpg35223]

Birmingham, Alabama. Surprised? Lowest unemployment in the country for a 1,000,000+ people and the highest percentage income growth over the past decade. $100,000 might be tough to find, but there are lots of good values here, along with a low tax base.

Forget the stereotypes. It's a really great town. My wife and I were very surprised when I came here for the interview.

[Trkstp Tina]

I'm not sure what the job markets are like, but I'd consider Oklahoma City or Tulsa.

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by Trkstp Tina

I'm not sure what the job markets are like, but I'd consider Oklahoma City or Tulsa.

Usually, housing prices correlate to the strength of a housing market. So it may be hard to find a city with lots of good jobs and cheap housing.

I concur with Okla City, though. There is a good supply of housing just at or below the 100K range, and much of it is pretty decent construction [not the new cookie-cutter stuff]. You may want to research the Okla City job market, to see if it would meet your needs.

[normie]

My friends who live there tell me Little Rock and Hot Springs have more job openings that I would have guessed. Just don't apply for a job at Weyerhauser--they're laying people off.

[christina0001]

What sort of work do you and your spouse do? I'm in the Kansas City metro area and you can find decent homes in safe neighborhoods for around $100k. Job market could be good or bad depending on what you do but overall seems stable here. My husband and I had no problem finding work when we moved here 5 months ago.

[goozer]

Youngstown, OH routinely makes the list of having the lowest median home prices of any mid-size or bigger city in the U.S. I think the median home price there is $89,000. Good jobs may be hard to come by, however, as the city has yet to recover from the loss of manufacturing jobs when the steel industry tanked in the 1960s.

For a place that has pretty cheap home prices, but a fairly decent job situation, I would look at Columbia, SC. It may be a stretch to find a house for under $100k, but you might be able to find something nice in the $150k price range. Plus, the job market is decent in SC due to the steady growth in population.

[M TYPE X]

Alabama > Arkansas
Alabama's various cities have cultural amentities. I see it as being the Illinois of the South. Arkansas is like the Indiana of the South. meh.

[Dieter]

Is there a place that fits the OP's requirements that isn't economically depressed, depressing, or in the bible belt?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Originally Posted by christina0001

What sort of work do you and your spouse do? I'm in the Kansas City metro area and you can find decent homes in safe neighborhoods for around $100k. Job market could be good or bad depending on what you do but overall seems stable here. My husband and I had no problem finding work when we moved here 5 months ago.

St. Louis is about the same price. I don't know much about the job market, though. It depends on what field you're in. And schools can be a concern if you're in the city itself. Missouri in general is cheap. Sometimes houses are cheaper because of the area they're in, but in most parts of Missouri you can get a decent house for $100,000 or less.