Central Coast city named least affordable place in US to buy a home. Which one?
Looking for a new place to live?
A Central Coast city is the least affordable place to buy a home in the nation, according to a new WalletHub study.
The personal finance website recently ranked the most affordable cities for homebuyers in the United States in 2025, comparing 300 locations based on metrics ranging from housing costs to taxes and vacancy rates.
“When deciding where to buy a home, home prices alone aren’t a good enough indicator of how affordable things will be,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said in a Tuesday, May 20, article. “You also have to consider how the average price compares to a typical income in the area, plus things like the overall cost of living and the costs of maintenance and taxes.”
Flint, Michigan, was the most affordable city for American homebuyers with a total score of 76.74 out of 100, WalletHub found, boasting the nation’s lowest cost of living and cheapest median home price per square footage.
“Flint also has a very high rent-to-price ratio, which means that it’s actually cheaper to buy property than it is to rent it,” WalletHub financial writer Adam McCann wrote.
Detroit was second on WalletHub’s list, while Pittsburgh came in third.
Here’s where California cities ranked:
What makes Santa Barbara a bad city for homebuyers?
According to WalletHub, Santa Barbara was the least affordable city in the United States to buy a home, with a total score of 22.63 out of 100.
The Central Coast city had the lowest housing affordability in the nation, WalletHub said, with housing prices significantly outpacing residents’ income.
In April, the median sales price for a house in Santa Barbara was $1,863,397, real estate website Zillow said, up nearly a percentage point from the previous year.
The annual median income for Santa Barbara households was $101,672 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Santa Barbara also had one of the lowest rent-to-price ratios in the United States, meaning that it was cheaper to rent a home than to buy one.
What about other California cities?
Victorville was the most affordable California city to buy a home in 2025, landing at No. 69 on WalletHub’s list.
Visalia ranked No. 114 among the best spots for homebuyers seeking affordable properties.
Further down the list were Fresno at No. 145 and Sacramento at No. 185.
In addition to looking at overall options for affordable housing, WalletHub divided cities by population size — defining large cities as those with more than 300,000 residents.
Stockton ranked the highest of any large California city on WalletHub’s list of the most affordable places to buy a home, landing at No. 36.
Lancaster was No. 35 on WalletHub’s list of the most affordable mid-size cities for homebuyers, defined as those with 150,000 to 300,000 residents. It was the highest ranking California city on the list.
The highest ranking small California city was Victorville at No. 24.
Those cities have fewer than 150,000 people, WalletHub said.
What are most affordable US cities to buy homes?
According to WalletHub, these are the most affordable cities for homebuyers in the United States:
- Flint, Michigan
- Detroit
- Pittsburgh
- Surprise, Arizona
- Akron, Ohio
- Yuma, Arizona
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Augusta, Georgia
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Indianapolis
Where are least affordable places in US for homebuyers?
These U.S. cities offered the most affordability challenges for people looking to buy homes, WalletHub said:
- Santa Barbara
- Santa Monica
- Berkeley
- Costa Mesa
- Irvine
- Glendale
- Los Angeles
- Burbank
- New York City
- Pasadena
How did WalletHub come up with rankings?
To determine the most affordable cities for home buyers, WalletHub said it compared a sample of 300 cities in the United States based on 10 key metrics, including:
- Housing affordability
- Average cost of homeowner’s insurance
- Cost of living
- Real estate tax rate
- Median home price appreciation
The personal finance website graded each metric on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing “the most favorable conditions for home affordability.”
WalletHub determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score, then used the resulting scores to rank them in order.
Data came from the U.S. Census Bureau, Insurance Information Institute, The National Association of Realtors and Council for Community and Economic Research.
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Central Coast city named least affordable place in US to buy a home. Which one?."
