The personal finance company WalletHub has published its latest housing data report, this time focused on affordable homeownership.
The new “Most Affordable Cities to Buy a Home in 2026” study compared 300 cities across 10 key metrics that included home prices, tax rates, and vacancy levels. The study determined that Flint, Michigan, was the nation’s most affordable city for homebuyers. Flint had the lowest cost of living index among the 300 cities, the most affordable home prices relative to residents’ income, and the lowest median home price per square footage at only $59. It also had a very high rent-to-price ratio and a wide choice of properties – roughly 20% of all houses in the city are vacant.
Another Michigan city, Detroit, placed second, followed by the Arizona cities Surprise and Yuma. Akron, Ohio, topped off the top five most affordable cities.
At the other end of the list, Santa Barbara, California, was the nation’s least affordable city for homeowners. California had nine of the 10 least affordable cities on the new WalletHub list.
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