The Most, And Least, Affordable Cities To Live In

February 28, 2009 · by Scott

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index recently released some interesting info. The page has links to several excel documents that list the most, and least, affordable cities to live in. I’ll just discuss the metro areas over 500k people.

The most affordable cities

Indianapolis, IN
Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
Syracuse, NY
Dayton, OH
Akron, OH
Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, PA

I can speak for many of the Michigan cities since I lived there for 27 years. Warren is a hole and is generally lumped in as Detroit. Troy and Farmington Hills are a different story (and quite frankly I don’t know why they are listed together with Warren). Troy and the surrounding cities were positively booming in the 80s and 90s, and though their economy is struggling like the rest of Michigan, they are doing relatively well. In fact, CNN Money has Troy listed as the 22nd best place to live. I grew up in Shelby Township, which is a couple miles east of Troy, and it’s 62nd on CNN’s list. Sterling Heights, also near Troy and adjacent to Shelby Twp, is 61st on the list. West Bloomfield Twp is, again, just west of Troy and 36th on the list.

These cities boomed in the 80s and 90s from people leaving Detroit looking for better neighborhoods and schools; and they found em. Detroit’s population has plummeted, but they’re all still there… just not in the city limits.

I suppose my point is that you need to thoroughly investigate your possible geodomain investments. Most people would be immediately turned off by hearing the word Detroit or finding out that a geodomain they are about to purchase is near Detroit. Look a little deeper and you may find opportunity.

The least affordable cities

New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ
San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA
Nassau-Suffolk, NY
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA
Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL
Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA
El Paso, TX
Newark-Union, NJ-PA
Honolulu, HI
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA

It wasn’t surprising to see this list cluttered with New York and Cali.

Ultimately, looking at the complete list I find myself questioning the accuracy. They have Ann Arbor, Michigan listed as the 22nd most affordable. Now, Ann Arbor is a major college town; home to the University of Michigan. My brother has lived there for about 10 years now and I can say that the community absolutely rapes the students of their money. While going to school, my brother rented an apartment which was really just a sectioned off room in a house. It was probably about 500 square feet, tops. Rent was $900 a month. Sound affordable to you? It’s disgusting.

So, the list has quite a few college towns in it and I’m guessing many larger college towns are similar to Ann Arbor. This is a direct conflict of facts. What am I missing?

As usual, this info is valuable to geodomainers. Arming yourself with this kind of knowledge will always pay off in the long run.

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