Omaha Tops Forbes Most Affordable Places to Live List

Solid housing market, quick commutes, stable employment and cost of living made the Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb., area Forbes’ number one most affordable places to live. Omaha is also named the city best surviving the recession.

Forbes examined the country’s 100 largest metro areas and ranked their affordability. The metro area’s affordability or “bang for their buck” was determined by specifically evaluating the foreclosures as a percentage of home prices, vacancies, unemployment rates, a three-year job growth forecast, a three-year home price forecast, housing affordability, median real estate taxes and median travel time to work. See the list of Forbes' Top 100 Most Affordable Places to Live.

Healthy housing markets were an important part of naming the most affordable places to live. The health was determined by looking at the metros where foreclosures had been mostly flushed out of the market and home values were increasing.

The 2009 Second Quarter Housing Affordability Index, compiled by Moody’s, an independent provider of economic, financial country and industry research, was coupled with the annual median real estate taxes and travel time to work in 2008, (determined using U.S. Census data) to determine overall affordability.

The Little Rock, Ark., Jackson, Miss., Des Moine, Iowa and August, Ga., metro areas round out the top give most affordable places to live. Two other Great Plains metro areas near the top of the most affordable places to live list: Wichita, Kan. (number 6) and Tulsa, Okla. (number 19).

Los Angeles, Miami and New York ranked the three least affordable places to live. For the complete ranking of the affordability of the 100 largest metro areas, see “The Most Affordable Places to Live.”

Written by Sharalyn Hartwell
HULIQ.com