10 Cities With Surprisingly Affordable Home Prices

In many major cities, finding a home at an attainable price point is a challenge—but this is not the case in every region of the U.S. The Midwest once again is proving that it is home to some of the most affordable housing markets, according to National Mortgage Professional, which cites data from real estate marketing platform Redfin. Detroit, Cleveland, and Dayton, Ohio, are currently the most budget-friendly metro areas in the U.S. to purchase a home as of March 2025. In each of these cities, the median home price is below $230,000. 

Several Rust Belt cities also fall closely behind, including Rochester, N.Y., Buffalo, N.Y., Pittsburgh, and St. Louis. In these metros, the median home price remains below $265,000. For context, the national median home price is just over $431,000.

“In many Rust Belt cities, buying a home is inexpensive compared to the rest of the U.S. because they don’t have the high-paying job opportunities of coastal cities, or the warm winters of southern cities,” observed Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. 

“Those places are also much more affordable to locals than the rest of the country, particularly California and New York. For buyers priced out of expensive coastal markets, especially people with geographic flexibility like remote workers or retirees, a place like the Rust Belt or parts of Texas are attractive for people looking to stretch their dollar.”