US Metros with Home Prices below national median price of $407,992 (middle-class, sales)

[Charlestondata]

Charleston, SC - $400,000 as of April per a local newspaper article yesterday, according to the South Carolina Association of Realtors

[Gaylord_Focker]

Surprised Minneapolis is on list and Raleigh isn’t

[mike0421]

Would Cincinnati qualify on this list?

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars

Nice. Looks like Tucson, Fresno, and (barely) Bakersfield are also below $407k.

Thanks

I'll add them.

[bellafinzi]

Updated list

US Metropolitan areas over 500,000 in population where home prices are below the national median price of $407,992 in April 2023.

Youngstown
Akron
Toledo
Lansing
Pittsburgh
Springfield, Massachusetts
Dayton
Scranton
Cleveland
Syracuse
Buffalo
Rochester
Albany
Detroit
Baltimore
Birmingham
Chicago
Cincinnati
Columbus
Hartford
Houston
Indianapolis
Louisville
Memphis
Milwaukee
New Orleans
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
San Antonio
St Louis
Kansas City
Virginia Beach
Fayetteville Arkansas
Knoxville
Richmond
Winston Salem
Greenville SC
Columbia SC
Lexington
Grand Rapids
Spokane
Tulsa
Wichita
Omaha
Des Moines
Madison
Harrisburg
Allentown
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Minneapolis
Tuscan
Fresno
Bakersfield
Jacksonville
Daytona Beach
Baton Rouge
Jackson
McAllen
El Paso
Orlando
Augusta
Pensacola
Little Rock

[bellafinzi]

Here is the official link...

https://realestate.usnews.com/places...places-to-live

I created my own list based on the above list and the following factors...

-Median home price below the national average of $407,992 as of April 2023

-Over 500,000 in population

-The rankings of the US News Best places to live list

1) Fayetteville, Arkansas
2) Madison
3) Melbourne
4) Jacksonville
5) Albany, NY
6) Des Moines
7) Grand Rapids
8) Knoxville
9) Syracuse
10) Rochester, NY
11) Buffalo
12) Pensacola
13) Virginia Beach
14) Greenville, SC
15) Lexington
16) Minneapolis
17) Harrisburg
18) Winston Salem
19) Richmond
20) Omaha
21) Pittsburgh
22) Chattanooga
23) Daytona Beach
24) Cincinnati
25) Orlando

[bellafinzi]

Added a factor to narrow down the list for those who are looking for freedom to smoke marijuana.

-Median home price below the national average of $407,992

-Over 500,000 in population

-The rankings of the US News Best places to live list

-In a state where recreational marijuana is legal

1) Albany, NY
2) Grand Rapids
3) Syracuse
4) Rochester, NY
5) Buffalo
6) Virginia Beach
7) Minneapolis
8) Richmond

[sub]

I’d like to see a list with average home prices below $250k.
That’s closer to the average of what people should be paying when not using fuzzy math to calculate what they can afford.

[rnc2mbfl]

The problem with just looking at median housing prices in a vacuum is that it doesn't take into account household incomes for context.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by rnc2mbfl

The problem with just looking at median housing prices in a vacuum is that it doesn't take into account household incomes for context.

This is why I like to use the NAHB Housing Opportunity Index, which includes the median family income: https://www.nahb.org/-/media/NAHB/ne...nk-2022q4.xlsx

https://www.nahb.org/news-and-econom...ortunity-index (By Affordability Rank and methodology is at the bottom of the page)

Another source for median home prices(1st Quarter of the year): https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/defaul...4xNjg1NDAzNDQy
Condos/Co-ops: https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/defaul...4xNjg1NDAzNDQy
Qualifying income by area: https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/defaul...4xNjg1NDAzNDQy
Source: https://www.nar.realtor/research-and...-affordability