Looking to buy an “affordable” home?
Personal finance company WalletHub analyzed data across 300 cities — large, medium and small — to find the most affordable cities to buy a home.
“Home prices have surged in recent years, with the median sales price rising from $313,000” in the first quarter of 2019 “to $403,200” in 2026.
“While prices may be beginning to ease in some parts of the country this year, interest rates have climbed sharply,” according to WalletHub.
How much? The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased from a historic low of 2.65% in January 2021 to 6.37% in May 2026.
To determine the most affordable cities, WalletHub analyzed 300 U.S. cities using 10 metrics, including home purchase and maintenance costs, tax rates, and vacancy rates.
Here’s what they found, including Florida rankings.
Where are the most affordable cities for homebuyers in US?
WalletHub found the 10 most affordable cities in the U.S. were:
What were the top most affordable Florida cities to buy a home?
No Florida city ranked in the top 10 overall as the most affordable place to buy a home. Top-ranked Florida cities on the WalletHub list were:
See how Florida cities compared on affordability when broken down into large, medium and small cities.
➤ See the full listing of all cities
Jacksonville, Florida, comes in at No. 21 among large cities for home affordability
Jacksonville was the top-ranked Florida city when it came to large cities ranked by WalletHub. Even then, Jacksonville came in at No. 21 out of 69 large cities.
Here’s how the top large Florida cities ranked:
Cape Coral was top-ranked medium-sized Florida city for affordable home
When it came to home affordability for mid-sized cities, Florida’s top-ranked city was Cape Coral, coming in at No. 23 out of 102 cities.
Here’s how the top mid-sized Florida cities ranked:
Palm Bay was top-ranked small Florida city for affordable home
When it came to home affordability for small Florida cities came in much higher than their large and medium-sized counterparts, with two in the top 10.
Florida’s top-ranked small city was Palm Bay, coming in at No. 3, out of 129 cities.
Here’s how the top small Florida cities ranked:
Curious about West Palm Beach, home to President Trump’s home Mar-a-Lago?
That was ranked No. 48 among Florida small cities.
Price isn’t only consideration when buying a home
“When deciding where to buy, home prices alone aren’t a good enough indicator of how affordable things will be,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo.
“You also have to consider how prices compare to incomes in the area, plus factor in things like the cost of living, maintenance expenses and taxes. The most affordable cities, like Flint, Michigan, Detroit, and Surprise, Arizona, have low costs across several of these different metrics.”
What criteria was used to rank the size of cities in WalletHub study?
WalletHub used population to separate the cities in the study between large, medium and small:
Cheryl McCloud is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Looking to buy a home? See how Florida cities rank on affordability
Reporting by Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
