20 Best Cities Where You Can Buy a House for Under $100K

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For most people, the dream of owning a home has evaporated and the cost of living has spiked, with a national average home price of $339,048, according to May 2023 figures from Zillow.

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But it is still very possible to find a home to fit the budget you’re looking for. In fact, in a variety of cities, you can find a good number of homes priced under $100,000 — perfect for first-time homebuyers, especially.

GOBankingRates analyzed data from Zillow to find the 100 biggest housing markets priced under $100,000. Then, GOBankingRates used data from Realtor.com to find the total number of active home listings and just how many of them have asking prices of less than that mark.

These 20 highlighted cities offer some of the cheapest housing prices in the U.S.

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20. Fort Wayne, Indiana

• Total active listings: 369

• Active listings under $100,000: 16

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 4.34%

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19. Columbia, South Carolina

• Total active listings: 446

• Active listings under $100,000: 20

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 4.48%

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18. Indianapolis

• Total active listings: 2,636

• Active listings under $100,000: 128

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 4.86%

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17. Tulsa, Oklahoma

• Total active listings: 1,119

• Active listings under $100,000: 73

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 6.52%

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16. Wichita, Kansas

• Total active listings: 1,134

• Active listings under $100,000: 75

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 6.61%

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15. Cincinnati

• Total active listings: 1,176

• Active listings under $100,000: 79

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 6.72%

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14. Kansas City, Missouri

• Total active listings: 1,674

• Active listings under $100,000: 118

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 7.05%

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13. Philadelphia

• Total active listings: 382

• Active listings under $100,000: 27

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 7.07%

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12. Baton Rouge, Louisiana

• Total active listings: 1,350

• Active listings under $100,000: 101

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 7.48%

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11. Louisville, Kentucky

• Total active listings: 1,896

• Active listings under $100,000: 165

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 8.70%

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10. Chicago

• Total active listings: 3,169

• Active listings under $100,000: 299

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 9.44%

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9. Pittsburgh

• Total active listings: 2,039

• Active listings under $100,000: 314

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 15.40%

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8. Buffalo, New York

• Total active listings: 513

• Active listings under $100,000: 108

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 21.05%

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7. Memphis, Tennessee

• Total active listings: 1,927

• Active listings under $100,000: 453

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 23.51%

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6. Milwaukee

• Total active listings: 644

• Active listings under $100,000: 153

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 23.76%

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5. St. Louis

• Total active listings: 2,060

• Active listings under $100,000: 530

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 25.73%

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4. Rochester, New York

• Total active listings: 253

• Active listings under $100,000: 107

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 42.29%

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3. Cleveland

• Total active listings: 1,171

• Active listings under $100,000: 518

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 44.24%

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2. Toledo, Ohio

• Total active listings: 684

• Active listings under $100,000: 358

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 52.34%

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1. Detroit

• Total active listings: 1,726

• Active listings under $100,000: 1,171

• Percentage of listings under $100,000: 67.84%

Jami Farkas contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: To find the 20 best cities where you can buy a house for under $100,000, GOBankingRates first found the top 100 largest housing markets according to Zillow. For each housing market, GOBankingRates found: (1) total active listings and (2) active listings under $100,000 sourced from Realtor.com. Then GOBankingRates calculated the percentage of listings under $100,000 and sorted the data to show the highest availability of listings under $100,000. All data is up-to-date as of May 13, 2024.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 20 Best Cities Where You Can Buy a House for Under $100K