New list reveals most desirable cities where home prices are still less than $250K

Far from the big cities and coastal enclaves, there are still some affordable metros for Americans to call home.

Sky-high listing prices and elevated mortgage rates are leaving prospective home-buyers across the country reluctant to pull the trigger, but a new round-up by Realtor.com identified ten metros where listing prices in October were relatively affordable. 

Median listing prices for U.S. homes reached a median of $424,000 last month, but temperatures stayed cool in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Homes in the small city, located 50 miles from Allentown, listed for a median price of $159,450 in October. Its population of roughly 13,300 residents enjoy a pedestrian-friendly downtown and easy access to Yuengling Brewery, the country’s oldest brewery in operation.

A second Appalachian locale, the mid-sized city of Wheeling, West Virginia, also made the rankings. 

Considered the birthplace of West Virginia, the riverfront city partially extends into Ohio.

It offers a close proximity to Pittsburgh alongside small-town prices: a median-priced Wheeling home cost just under $180,000 in October.

While the Empire State is hardly considered cheap — a recent study found that the typical New York household would need 23 years to save for a 10% home down payment — two cities appeared on the Realtor’s budget-friendly list. 

Elmira, New York, was the second-cheapest city on the October round-up. The small city, situated 33 miles outside of Ithaca, put up median listing prices of just $179,900 in October.

Closer to the Canadian border, the New York metro of Watertown-Fort Drum also made the list. Its housing market’s median price hovered just below the benchmark, at $249,950. The city boasts a small-town feel and a roughly one-hour drive to Syracuse. 

The rest of Realtor’s reasonably affordable metros were largely concentrated in the Midwest. 

Ottawa, Illinois is a small city — its population totals approximately 18,800 — with big perks. Set at the junction of two scenic rivers, the tiny metro near Chicago is the cheapest of the Midwestern locales. Median home prices there hover just below $200,000. 

Home prices in St. Joseph, a mid-sized metropolitan area that includes parts of both Missouri and Kansas, clocked in at just $227,125 in October. Similarly, Marinette, situated on the border between Wisconsin and Michigan, posted median listing prices of $227,425.

The combined metro area of Waterloo and Cedar Falls, located in Iowa, as well as Joplin, Missouri, ranked as the priciest of the region’s dirt-cheap metros. These metros host listing prices comfortably below $250,000. 

Wichita Falls, Texas, was the only Southern metro on the list, with a median listing price of $199,900 as of October. The mid-sized city’s low cost of housing offers an accessible alternative to nearby Dallas.