--- title: Top 10 Big Cities With the Most Affordable Home Prices Right Now description: In this era of high housing costs, elevated mortgage rates and low inventory, here are the top 10 cities with home listings under $300,000. authors: - name: Mary Ellen Cagnassola role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/ bio: Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former Money reporter who specialized in U.S. rent and real estate, with a focus on market trends and affordability. education: Rutgers University, BA Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 205 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-11-21T21:16:12.000Z' modified: '2023-11-21T21:16:12.000Z' section: Housing tags: - News - real estate word_count: 372 canonical: https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Toledo, Ohio, USA downtown skyline on the Maumee River at dusk.](https://img.money.com/2023/11/News-Top-Cities-Home-Sales.jpg) *Toledo, Ohio* American homebuyers may be feeling like they’re out of options amid soaring housing prices, low inventory and elevated [mortgage rates](https://money.com/current-mortgage-rates/). But a [new ranking](https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/discount-dream-homes-here-are-americas-10-cheapest-housing-markets/?cid=eml_promo_Marketing_PRSL__1946:655bc08b78f61ca27e06f6f8:ot_Marketing_Consumer_AdHoc_EditorialSingleArticle) shows there are still some cities where the median home price is $300,000 or less — a steal when you consider the median throughout the U.S. right now is $431,000. Real estate listing site Realtor.com looked at list prices in the 100 largest cities in October, including their surrounding suburbs and smaller urban areas, to find the cheapest markets for homebuyers. ## Take the first step to buying a new home today ### Mortgage Experts at Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) are available to get you started on your home-buying journey with solid advice and priceless information. To find out more, click on your state today. [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/te0e3daa0c3f?ap_referrer=%2Fcities-most-affordable-home-prices%2F) ## Where homes cost under $300,000 The metropolitan areas listed in Realtor’s new ranking have some seriously affordable real estate, and shoppers can even find a home with a yard. But buyer beware: The big cities with median home prices of $300,000 and under tend to be dealing with population decline stemming from economic hardship. Buyers shouldn’t let that discourage them, especially if they’re determined to make a purchase in this era of high mortgage rates (the average rate is currently 7.4%), high home prices, high [homeowners insurance](https://money.com/best-home-insurance/) costs and limited inventory. The cities on the list, which are mostly in the Midwest and South, feature a low cost of living. They’ve largely been sheltered from the historic housing price surges that have affected most of the country in recent years. And while it’s true that these areas have been through some tough economic times, Realtor’s chief economist, Danielle Hale, says the majority have a below-average unemployment rate. ## 10 big cities with low home prices These are the 10 metro areas where the median list price was around $300,000 or less in October. 1. Toledo, Ohio (median list price: $205,725) 2. Scranton, Pennsylvania (median list price: $239,495) 3. Rochester, New York (median list price: $249,949) 4. Detroit, Michigan (median list price: $252,250) 5. St. Louis, Missouri (median list price: $277,000) 6. McAllen, Texas (median list price: $280,000) 7. Birmingham, Alabama (median list price: $294,825) 8. Little Rock, Arkansas (median list price: $295,000) 9. Wichita, Kansas (median list price: $298,950) 10. Baton Rouge, Louisiana (median list price: $301,954) ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/26681/medium_57f09f10-efb8-487d-a73e-5f7d605144eb.png) Imagine finally owning your dream home — Rocket Mortgage (NMLS #3030) can help! [View Rates](https://money.com/pr/t39f99e0e0ab?ap_referrer=%2Fcities-most-affordable-home-prices%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Home Prices", "item": "https://money.com/home-prices/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Top 10 Big Cities With the Most Affordable Home Prices Right Now" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/", "name": "Top 10 Big Cities With the Most Affordable Home Prices Right Now", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-11-21T21:16:12.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2023-11-21T21:16:12.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Top 10 Big Cities With the Most Affordable Home Prices Right Now", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/11/News-Top-Cities-Home-Sales.jpg", "width": 2037, "height": 1358, "caption": "News-Top-Cities-Home-Sales" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Ellen Cagnassola", "url": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/#author", "description": "Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former Money reporter who specialized in U.S. rent and real estate, with a focus on market trends and affordability.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/mary-ellen.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Rutgers University, BA Journalism" } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2023-11-21T21:16:12.000Z", "description": "In this era of high housing costs, elevated mortgage rates and low inventory, here are the top 10 cities with home listings under $300,000.", "abstract": "In this era of high housing costs, elevated mortgage rates and low inventory, here are the top 10 cities with home listings under $300,000.", "@id": "https://money.com/cities-most-affordable-home-prices/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2023-11-21T21:16:12.000Z", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "wordCount": 372, "keywords": [ "News", "real estate" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Housing in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_the_United_States" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Real estate economics", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate_economics" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Real estate", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate" ] } ] } ] } ```