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IOWA
The Most Affordable College Town Is …
Whether consumers are hunting for their perfect house or
just trying to find a place to rent, affordability is a key factor in
determining if it's time to settle down or move elsewhere. With so
many students burdened by crippling levels of student debt, housing
affordability is definitely on the minds of recent grads, but could that
college town they're accustomed to be a reasonable and affordable
long-term home?
Realtor.com set out to determine "e Best Affordable College
Towns for Recent Grads—and Everyone Else." Realtor.com's
data team examined the 700 largest markets in the U.S., focusing
specifically on those that were home to at least one four-year
university populated by at least 10,000 undergraduates. Realtor.
com then considered factors such as "percentage of college students,
unemployment rates, home appreciation, and median income." What
did they find? Among other things, Iowa is home to not one, but two
of the most affordable college towns in the U.S.
Ames, Iowa, comes in at No. 1 on the list, according to
Realtor.com's report. Home to nearly 35,000 college students, Ames
features a median home list price of $265,200 and a median household
income of $56,800. e city's jobless rate is also low at only 1.7 percent.
Iowa is also home to the tenth most-affordable city on the list:
Iowa City, Iowa. With nearly 30,000 students living within its
borders, Iowa City features a median home list price of $290,000 and
a median household income of $61,400.
e rest of Realtor.com's Top 10 are scattered around the country,
with State College, Pennsylvania, coming in at No. 2, with a
population of nearly 50,000 college students. e city's median home
list price sits at $257,600, with a median household income of $61,100.
From there, the rest of the top 10 consists of Lawrence, Kansas;
Blacksburg, Virginia; Ithaca, New York; Ann Arbor, Michigan;
Champaign, Illinois; Lafayette, Indiana; Columbia, Missouri; and
the aforementioned Iowa City.
e highest median home list price from the top 10 is Ann Arbor's
$334,100; the lowest is Champaign's $158,100.
