There’s a simple fact about housing costs. Some places are less expensive than others.
According to a new analysis by Redfin, you need look no further than the St. Louis area to find the most-affordable place to live in the nation.
Redfin said that a typical household in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, would only need to spend 16% of their income on housing every month.
That’s the lowest share in the nation and less than half the national average, said Redfin, the real estate brokerage powered by Rocket.
Rounding out the top five are Ferguson, Missouri (17.6%), Detroit, Michigan (17.9%), Broussard, Louisiana (18.4%), and Bayou Cane, Louisiana (18.6%).
Nationwide, Typical Homeowner Pays 39% of Income on Housing
Redfin analyzed median incomes and median home sale prices across nearly every U.S. city, using weighted averages from January-November 2025 to conduct its analysis.
Nationwide, Redfin said the typical homeowner must spend 39% of their income on housing. That is well above the recommended 30% threshold.
Redfin said it is highlighting the most-affordable cities because housing costs are near record highs, sidelining many would-be buyers. It said that with buyers priced out, homes are harder to sell, prompting would-be sellers to hold off and contributing to an unusually slow yet still expensive buyer’s market.
That condition is in sharp contrast from the pandemic homebuying boom, when homes sold quickly as buyers took advantage of historically low mortgage rates and remote work. The buying frenzy depleted housing stock and buyers began backing off as prices and mortgage rates climbed at record rates, Redfin noted.
Current buyers and sellers are dealing with the aftermath.
Midwest, the South Dominate Most-Affordable Cities
“Affordability is top of mind for many people today, as rising costs have left younger generations feeling like homeownership is just a pipe dream,” said Asad Khan, a Senior Economist at Redfin. “But believe it or not, there are still plenty of areas—mostly in the Rust Belt and the South—where buying a home is financially comfortable.”
Redfin said that most of the most affordable cities are in the Midwest and Southern United States, with a large share in the Rust Belt.
It said that housing in those regions tends to be old, especially in places such as Detroit, which can keep prices low. Every city in the top 50 has a median sale price near or below $300,000, Redfin said.
It said that housing costs are low in Bellefontaine Neighbors, and North St. Louis in general, largely because of decades of economic disinvestment and discriminatory housing policies, epitomized by the Delmar Divide.
Residents north of the divide generally earn less and have fewer opportunities than those in the south.
That pattern is not unique to St. Louis, Redfin noted.
In many of the nation’s most affordable cities, homeownership may look attainable for local households on paper, but the reality is often more complicated.
Many of the cities have poverty rates far above the national average and house a disproportionate share of underserved groups.
Lower-income areas also tend to have fewer job opportunities, Redfin said, especially well-paying ones, which contributes to the same cycle of disinvestment that keeps prices low.
Austin Joins the List of Most Affordable
A notable addition to the list is Austin, Texas, where the housing market has dramatically slowed since it peaked as the nation’s hottest in 2021, Redfin said.
What happened in Austin?
Redfin said that many people who relocated there to work remotely and for its sunshine and affordability during the pandemic have since moved away, creating a surplus of inventory and helping prices drop from their peak.
Redfin said it predicts that affordability will improve gradually in 2026 and beyond, as wages climb faster than housing costs for a sustained period for the first time since the Great Recession.
“Rising wages and declining costs may bring some life back to the market in 2026, but until homebuilding catches up to years of unmet demand, affordability will remain a challenge,” Khan said. “The best way to make homebuying affordable—especially for younger generations—is to make homebuilding easier and provide financial and social support to populations in need.”
