Before deciding which locale has better schools, amenities and opportunity, home buyers will need to know whether their household income will allow them to reasonably afford to purchase a home and live there. While real estate prices and mortgage rates have increased recently, there are still affordable areas for first-time home buyers and experienced house hunters alike. Rocket HomesSM teamed up with BestPlaces.net to find 10 best places to buy a home on a $100,000 household income.
Finding The Best Places To Buy A Home On A $100,000 Household Income
The team first calculated the highest monthly mortgage payment for a household with a $100,000 annual gross income following the general rule of thumb to spend no more than 30% of it on their monthly payment. Our methodology section explains the assumptions we used to calculate this estimated payment.
On a household income of $100,000, that maximum monthly mortgage payment would be about $2,500.
While home buyers with a $100,000 income could afford any of the best places to live on a $65,000 household income, they may want something a little more. So we looked at cities that had estimated monthly mortgage payments above $1,625 (the maximum for a $65,000 income) and under $2,500.
After filtering out all cities with an average estimated mortgage payment outside of that range, the team used the following metrics to rank the remaining metro areas as the best places to buy a new home.
- Income tax
- Sales tax
- 2021 median household income
- Unemployment rate
- Health of residents
- Climate hazard risk
Cities with a crime rate higher than 50% of the country were also filtered out of this study. To provide a wider range of areas, we removed any other lower ranking cities within a 100-mile radius of a higher-ranking city in the same state.
Ann Arbor was ranked No. 8
- Metro population: 367,601
- Median home price: $380,800
- Estimated monthly mortgage payment: $2,442
The university town with a big-city feel and small-town charm welcomes all walks of life – from artists and techies to foodies, sports fanatics and even four-legged friends. All residents can feel optimistic about putting down roots in the midwestern city as the risk of experiencing a devastating natural disaster is lower than almost 95% of the rest of the country. Ann Arbor was even named the #1 best place to live in Michigan and the #1 best place to live for quality of life by U.S. News & World Report.
Grand Rapids was No. 7 on the list.
