Affordability
The 25 cheapest cities to buy a home in 2026
The most affordable U.S. cities ranked by median sale price, limited to markets with at least 100 recorded sales, with the monthly payment each one implies at the current 30-year rate.
Independent U.S. housing market data
U.S. housing market data by city
Properties Incorporated publishes the numbers behind 22,712 U.S. cities and 30,888 ZIP codes: typical home values, median sale prices, for-sale inventory, days on market, income, and schools. Every figure is aggregated from a named public source — Zillow, Redfin, the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Education Statistics, and FRED — and stamped with the period it covers.
No account, no paywall, no listings pitch. Search a place to see what its market is actually doing, or start with the national picture below.
Popular:
The U.S. market right now
Four national readings, each from its original source and dated to the period it covers. National numbers set context; they do not describe any individual market, which is why every one of them links through to the state and city data underneath.
Typical home value
$371,774
+1.0% over 12 months. Zillow's home value index for the whole U.S. housing stock, not just the homes that sold.
Zillow, July 2026 · Refreshes monthlyMedian sale price
$410,700
-1.3% year over year. The midpoint of what actually closed, published quarterly by the Census Bureau.
U.S. Census Bureau, Q2 2026 · Refreshes quarterly30-year fixed rate
6.66%
Up 0.16 points from a year ago. Freddie Mac's weekly average — the rate every affordability figure here is run at.
Freddie Mac via FRED, August 2026 · Refreshes weeklyHomes for sale
1,130,302
-6.6% versus the same month last year. Active listings summed across the 51 state markets.
Redfin, through May 2026 · No longer updatingThe two price readings disagree on purpose. The typical home value ($371,774) measures the entire stock of homes; the median sale price ($410,700) measures only what changed hands, so it drifts with the mix of homes that sold. A third check, the Case-Shiller national index, is +1.5% year over year as of June 2026. When all three point the same direction, the trend is real; when they diverge, the mix of what is selling has changed.
Supply is the other half of the picture. Across the state markets that report in both periods, active listings are -6.6% and closed sales are -4.5% against the same month a year earlier. Fewer homes listed and fewer homes sold is a market thinning out on both sides rather than one tilting decisively toward buyers or sellers.
Redfin stopped publishing public market trackers in June 2026; latest available period is May 2026.
How each figure is defined: methodology. Where each one comes from and how often it refreshes: data sources.
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Markets to watch
The largest year-over-year moves among the 375 U.S. cities that recorded at least 100 home sales in the latest Redfin snapshot. The 100-sale floor keeps thin markets — where three unusual sales can swing a median 30% — out of the ranking.
Biggest 12-month gains
| City | Median | 1-yr |
|---|---|---|
| Miami Beach, FL | $720,000 | +34.6% |
| Birmingham, AL | $227,000 | +22.0% |
| Mableton, GA | $371,750 | +20.9% |
| Warren, MI | $225,000 | +20.6% |
| Naples, FL | $1.24M | +20.5% |
| Toledo, OH | $150,000 | +20.0% |
Biggest 12-month declines
| City | Median | 1-yr |
|---|---|---|
| Sunnyvale, CA | $1.75M | -23.6% |
| Bentonville, AR | $406,320 | -19.5% |
| Bellevue, WA | $1.40M | -15.3% |
| Carlsbad, CA | $1.42M | -14.9% |
| Pembroke Pines, FL | $495,200 | -14.7% |
| Woodbury, MN | $395,000 | -12.0% |
A double-digit move in either column is usually a mix story before it is a value story: a wave of new construction closing, a stretch of luxury sales, or a pullback in the top of the market. Open the city page and check months of supply and days on market before reading a price move as a trend.
Lowest median sale prices in the same sample: Detroit, MI $95,000 · Lansing, MI $147,500 · Cleveland, OH $150,000 · Dayton, OH $150,000 · Toledo, OH $150,000 · Akron, OH $151,000.
Redfin, through May 2026 · No longer updatingSee the full affordability ranking · Browse every state and city
Explore by state
All 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state hub carries its own price series, inventory, and the city-level breakdown underneath it. Values shown are Zillow's typical home value with the 12-month change; where Zillow does not publish a state series, the Redfin median sale price is shown instead.
Zillow, July 2026 · Refreshes monthly
Alabama$241,009 +1.6%Alaska$402,190 +5.9%Arizona$421,381 -1.4%Arkansas$225,822 +3.5%California$773,735 -0.0%Colorado$538,932 -1.7%Connecticut$453,319 +4.9%Delaware$410,192 +1.3%District of Columbia$740,000 +5.5%Florida$378,167 -2.2%Georgia$334,119 -0.7%Hawaii$833,877 +0.5%Idaho$481,825 +1.6%Illinois$299,900 +5.1%Indiana$260,808 +2.9%Iowa$240,435 +3.7%Kansas$250,918 +4.0%Kentucky$234,510 -0.7%Louisiana$217,092 +1.9%Maine$421,966 +1.3%Maryland$433,112 +0.0%Massachusetts$669,053 +2.1%Michigan$269,576 +4.0%Minnesota$356,066 +2.6%Mississippi$196,333 +2.0%Missouri$268,420 +3.3%Montana$475,191 +1.8%Nebraska$282,767 +3.1%Nevada$447,473 -2.0%New Hampshire$521,177 +2.8%New Jersey$584,072 +3.6%New Mexico$320,106 +1.5%New York$527,312 +5.3%North Carolina$338,359 -0.0%North Dakota$293,741 +5.3%Ohio$249,941 +3.4%Oklahoma$223,612 +2.6%Oregon$502,156 -0.3%Pennsylvania$290,552 +2.4%Rhode Island$515,289 +3.2%South Carolina$307,777 +0.8%South Dakota$324,891 +2.5%Tennessee$336,508 +0.5%Texas$301,806 -1.8%Utah$539,949 +1.5%Vermont$405,980 +1.1%Virginia$418,375 +2.1%Washington$601,545 -0.4%West Virginia$178,702 +3.0%Wisconsin$343,798 +4.9%Wyoming$371,685 +1.5%
Prefer the full table with inventory and days on market? Open the markets directory.
How to read a market in five checks
Every city page on this site publishes the same five figures in the same order, because this is the order that answers the question “is this a good time to buy here?” without guessing.
- 1
Start with the typical home value, not the headline price
ZHVI tracks the value of the entire housing stock in a place, so it is not distorted by which homes happened to close that month. It is the cleanest read on what a place costs.
- 2
Check the 12-month direction before the monthly one
One month of movement is noise, especially in a city with a few hundred sales. The year-over-year change tells you whether a market is appreciating, flat, or correcting.
- 3
Read months of supply — this is your leverage
Months of supply is active inventory divided by homes sold per month: at the current sales pace, how many months it would take to sell every home currently listed. Under 4 months of supply tilts toward sellers, 4 to 5 months is the neutral band, and above 5 months tilts toward buyers — above 7 months is a glut. These are the same thresholds the market verdict on every city and ZIP page is scored against. It is the single most useful number on the page and it is rarely quoted in headlines.
- 4
Pair days on market with sale-to-list ratio
Homes selling fast and above list price means competition and few concessions. Homes sitting and closing below list price means room to negotiate on price, repairs, or rate buy-downs.
- 5
Convert price into payment at today's rate
A 6.66% 30-year rate changes what a given price costs per month far more than a few percent of price movement does. Run the number before comparing two markets.
The exact definitions and thresholds behind these five checks are on the methodology page.
Who this is for
Four different jobs, four different starting points. Each one is a real route through the data, not a marketing segment.
Buyers
Find out what your budget actually buys in the markets you are considering, and whether you are walking into competition or negotiating room. Start with the affordability calculator at the current rate, then open the city page and read months of supply.
Sellers
Price against evidence instead of against your neighbor's list price. The city page shows days on market, sale-to-list ratio, and months of supply — the three figures that decide whether your price will draw offers or sit.
Investors
Screen markets on price level, direction, supply, and rent against value rather than on a listing headline. The affordability study ranks the lowest-priced liquid markets; the state table shows where inventory is building.
Agents and advisors
Bring a sourced number to a listing appointment or a client call. Every figure on this site names its provider and period, so it holds up when a client asks where it came from, and the pages are free to link or cite.
Research studies
Longer analyses built on the same database, each with its sources and publication date on the page.
Forecast
2026 housing market outlook: every major forecast compared
Redfin, Zillow, Fannie Mae, the MBA, J.P. Morgan, NAR, and Realtor.com's price and rate calls for 2026, lined up side by side with the date each one was published.
Free calculators
All three run against the current Freddie Mac 30-year rate (6.66%, week of August 27, 2026), not a placeholder. No sign-up, no lead wall.
Mortgage payment
Principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and PMI on a specific price and down payment.
Affordability
What price your income supports under the 28/36 guideline at today's rate.
Rent vs. buy
The breakeven year where buying overtakes renting on your numbers.
How the data works
Five upstream providers, each on its own schedule. We aggregate and publish what they release; we do not model, estimate, or adjust their figures. Where two providers cover the same metric, we lead with the one that is currently refreshing.
| Source | What it provides | Refresh |
|---|---|---|
| Zillow Research | Typical home value (ZHVI), typical rent (ZORI), for-sale inventory, new listings | Monthly · current through July 2026 |
| Redfin | Median sale price, days on market, months of supply, sale-to-list ratio, homes sold | Through May 2026 · no longer refreshing |
| U.S. Census Bureau | National median sale price; ACS income, households, tenure, and commute data by place | Quarterly (price) · annual (ACS) |
| NCES | Public school directory, enrollment, and student-teacher ratios by location | Annual |
| FRED (St. Louis Fed) | Freddie Mac 30-year and 15-year mortgage rates, Case-Shiller national index, housing starts and permits | Weekly (rates) · monthly (indexes) |
Redfin stopped publishing public market trackers in June 2026; latest available period is May 2026.
That is why the sale-price series and the value series on this site can carry different dates, and why we label every figure rather than printing one “last updated” stamp for the whole site. When a provider stops publishing, the honest move is to say so on the number itself.
Full detail: methodology · data sources · who publishes this
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Common questions
What is the median home price in the United States?
The U.S. median sale price of homes sold is $410,700 (U.S. Census Bureau, Q2 2026), and it is -1.3% versus a year earlier. The typical U.S. home value — Zillow's ZHVI, which measures the value of the whole housing stock rather than only the homes that sold — is $371,774 as of July 2026, +1.0% year over year. The two figures differ because a median sale price reflects the mix of homes that happened to transact, while a home value index tracks the same stock over time. City-level prices range far wider than either national number.
How current is the data on this site?
Each number is stamped with its source and period. Zillow home values refresh monthly (currently July 2026). Freddie Mac's 30-year mortgage rate refreshes weekly through FRED (currently August 27, 2026). Census ACS demographics are annual. Redfin's public market trackers stopped publishing in June 2026, so every Redfin figure on this site is labeled "through May 2026" and will not move until Redfin resumes publishing.
Where does Properties Incorporated get its housing data?
Five public sources, named on every page: Zillow Research (home value index, rent index, inventory, new listings), Redfin's published market trackers (median sale price, days on market, months of supply, sale-to-list ratio), the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (income, households, tenure), the National Center for Education Statistics (schools), and FRED at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (mortgage rates, national price indexes). We aggregate and publish; we do not model or estimate prices ourselves.
Is it a buyer's market or a seller's market right now?
That is a local question, not a national one. Under 4 months of supply tilts toward sellers, 4 to 5 months is the neutral band, and above 5 months tilts toward buyers — above 7 months is a glut. These are the same thresholds the market verdict on every city and ZIP page is scored against. The days-on-market figure tells you how fast that balance is moving. Across the 51 state markets, active listings totaled 1,130,302 in May 2026, -6.6% versus the same month a year earlier. Every city page on this site publishes months of supply, days on market, and sale-to-list ratio so you can answer it for your market instead of the country.
How much house can I afford at today's mortgage rate?
The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.66% in the week of August 27, 2026 (Freddie Mac via FRED). Most lenders apply the 28/36 guideline: housing costs at or below 28% of gross monthly income, total debt payments at or below 36%. The affordability calculator on this site runs that math against the current rate, your income, your down payment, and local taxes and insurance rather than a national average.
What is the difference between ZHVI and median sale price?
ZHVI is Zillow's home value index: a smoothed, seasonally adjusted estimate of the typical value of the housing stock in a place, whether or not those homes sold. Median sale price is the middle price of homes that actually closed in a period, so it moves with the mix of what sold — a quarter heavy on large new homes pushes it up even if no individual home gained value. Use ZHVI for the trend in value and median sale price for what buyers actually paid.
Which U.S. cities are the most affordable to buy in right now?
Among the 375 cities with at least 100 recorded sales in the latest Redfin snapshot (May 2026), the lowest median sale prices are Detroit, MI ($95,000); Lansing, MI ($147,500); Cleveland, OH ($150,000); Dayton, OH ($150,000); Toledo, OH ($150,000). The full ranking, with year-over-year change and days on market for each, is in our cheapest-cities study.
Do you cover ZIP codes as well as cities?
Yes. The database holds 22,712 cities and 30,888 ZIP codes across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. City pages carry market data, demographics, schools, and nearby-market comparisons; ZIP pages carry the market series for that ZIP. Search any place name or five-digit ZIP in the search box at the top of this page.
Can I cite Properties Incorporated data in my own work?
Yes, and we would rather you cite the specific city, ZIP, or state page than the homepage, because that page names the original source and period for every figure it shows. Our methodology page documents how each metric is defined and how markets are classified; the data-sources page lists every upstream provider with its refresh cadence.
Is this a home-listing site?
No. Properties Incorporated is a housing-market data platform. We publish the numbers behind a market — values, prices, supply, time on market, demographics, schools, rates — so buyers, sellers, investors, and agents can judge a place on evidence. We are not a brokerage, we do not sell homes, and the data here is informational, not financial or real-estate advice.
Get the market brief for the city you're watching
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