IOWA (KCAU) – When choosing a place to live, affordability is a top concern for most people, and a new ranking from U.S. News and World Report may help narrow the search for a cheaper home.
The study looked at what metro areas across the nation were the most affordable to live in. In the 2023 study, one Iowa area ranked among the cheapest places to live in the country.
As part of the study, the group assessed how much of a household’s annual income goes toward the average cost of owning or renting a home, including utilities and taxes, as well as price parity, which compares the cost of goods and services nationwide.
Additionally, because affordability was a top concern for residents, the company used it as a key metric to calculate its Best Places to Live ranking.
What are the top 10 most affordable places to live?
These are the 10 metro areas that made the list:
- Hickory, North Carolina
- Youngstown, Ohio
- Huntington, West Virginia, and Ashland, Kentucky
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Beaumont, Texas
- Peoria, Illinois
- Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Quad Cities – Davenport-Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline-Rock Island, Illinois
- Knoxville, Tennessee
The ninth place ranking comes despite a rise in Davenport’s rental market for two-bedroom apartments last year, now averaging $1,377 per month, Rent.com data shows. Meanwhile, one-bedroom apartments in Davenport rent for approximately $912.
Apartments in Davenport are expected to rent between $750 to $1,377 on average in 2023. It costs about $750 per month to rent a studio apartment in the city.
Additionally, Davenport’s housing market rose from last year, according to data from Redfin, a real estate brokerage. Davenport home prices jumped 5.8% from a year ago, selling for a median price of $172,000 in April.
Interestingly enough, Green Bay, Wisconsin also ranked in another study from U.S. News and World Report as the best place to live in the country. However, a recent ranking of safest cities showed not a single city in Wisconsin cracked the top ten.
Curious to see if your metro area made the top 25 list? Check out the full rankings by clicking here.
