Located one hour away from Pittsburgh and Cleveland, Youngstown, Ohio is home to the tenth cheapest housing market in America. A three bedroom, two bathroom house can be purchased for 115,000 with a monthly payment of 735 dollars. Despite the city's population decline over the last 30 years, there has been an increase in population due to remote workers since the pandemic. The Texas border towns of Brownsville, McAllen, and Rio Grande offer houses priced between 75,000 - 170,000, though prices have increased over the years.
In Brownsville, Texas, prices have increased by an astonishing 60% since the beginning of the pandemic, largely due to the influx of jobs and population growth resulting from Elon Musk's space rocket launch facility. Meanwhile, in Peoria, Illinois, a three bed two bath house is available for only ninety thousand dollars, with a median household income of sixty five thousand dollars. This ratio of value to income is 2x, compared to La, which has a ratio of 10x. Peoria had been the world headquarters for Caterpillar until 2017, when it moved to Deerfield, Ohio, and again in 2022 to move to T.
Located right on the Arkansas-Texas border, Texarkana is the seventh cheapest city in the United States. Typical home prices here are $149,000, with some two-bed, one-bath houses on the market for as little as $83,000. Furthermore, Texarkana has seen positive inbound migration and population growth every year since 1990, with a record-breaking 12,000 net people moving in during 2021. Over the last century, America's most expensive cities have shifted from the West Coast to other parts of the country.
100 years ago, Binghamton, New York was one of the most expensive housing markets in America, with an average home price of 8,200. It was more expensive than San Diego, and even today, prices remain relatively inexpensive. Currently, the typical home value in Binghamton is 158 thousand dollars and a livable house can be bought for even less. It is a "minor league baseball town" however, meaning there is not much to do aside from attending baseball games. It is likely that home prices will remain cheap for the foreseeable future, although it is hard to predict which cities will be the most expensive in the next 50 to 100 years.
Albany, Georgia is located in the southern part of the state and has seen a significant rise in the typical home price over the past 5-6 years, however it has also been heavily impacted by the last housing downturn. Data from the FBI shows that the violent crime rate in Albany is in the 97th percentile of U.S metros and its population has declined by 10% over the last 20 years. Houma, Louisiana is an hour and 20 minutes southwest of New Orleans and is our number four cheapest housing market to buy. Houma has a high cap rate of 11.5%, meaning that real estate investors could buy a property there and get a return of around 11.5% each year. Prices are cheap and returns are high due to the Metro's population decline since 2017, particularly in 2021 and 2022.
Charleston, West Virginia is the third cheapest housing market in the United States, with homes currently on the market for less than $100,000. This is due to the state's reliance on coal production and the resulting impact on the local economy. Similarly, Huntington, West Virginia has a value to income ratio of 2.6, one of the lowest in America, and was once a booming town due to its steel manufacturing and logistics hub. Both of these cities are located in the Midwest and Northeast, part of the Rust Belt and Deep South.
In Huntington, globalization and a decline in manufacturing have caused a nearly 50% decrease in population from 1950 to 2020, resulting in a four-bed, two-bath house costing only $107,000 with a monthly payment of $600. Danville, Illinois is the most affordable city in America, with the typical home value being only 1.4 times the median household income. A three-bed, two-bath, 1400 square foot house can be bought for $75,000, with a monthly payment of $510.