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The 10 Most and Least Expensive U.S. Cities to Buy a Home

If you want a deal on real estate, you may have trouble finding it in California.
ByCaLea Johnson|
Houses in Californian cities fetch a high price.
Houses in Californian cities fetch a high price. | Alexander Spatari/GettyImages

There’s a lot to consider when buying a home. While home style, neighborhood atmosphere, and budget are all important, location is the most critical factor for many people. With this in mind, the financial news website TradingPedia compiled these lists of the most and least expensive cities for buying a house in the U.S.

For their report, researchers analyzed U.S. housing market data from Redfin. They limited their study to areas where at least 500 homes were purchased in January 2025, and the rankings were based on median home sale prices within each metro.

According to TradingPedia, Detroit has the lowest home prices in 2025. The median home sale price in the metro area was only $175,000. Cleveland follows close behind, with a median sale price of $205,000. That’s not surprising given the state’s appearance on GOBankingRates’ list of the best states to buy a home in the next five years. Ohio’s cost of living is about 11 percent lower than the national average, making the state an affordable place to settle down.

Pittsburgh rounds out the top three cheapest places to buy a home. The median home sale price there is only $225,000. You may want to move fast if you’d like to buy a home in the city, as Pittsburgh also saw the largest real estate price increases of any metro area last year.

Here’s the full list of the least expensive U.S. cities to buy a home:

  1. Detroit
  2. Cleveland
  3. Pittsburgh
  4. Wichita, Kansas
  5. Little Rock, Arkansas
  6. Rochester, New York
  7. Buffalo, New York
  8. Tulsa, Oklahoma 
  9. Oklahoma City
  10. St. Louis 

On the other end of the spectrum lies many Californian cities. Metro areas in the Golden State account for the top five most expensive places to buy a home in 2025. San Jose is the most costly, with a median home sale price of nearly $1.5 million. TradingPedia notes that this is likely due to Silicon Valley’s presence, which results in high land values to match the area’s high-paying jobs. Anaheim ($1,199,500) and San Diego ($895,000) follow San Jose. 

You can find the rest of the most expensive cities to buy a home below: 

  1. San Jose, California
  2. Anaheim, California
  3. San Diego
  4. Los Angeles
  5. Oakland, California
  6. Seattle
  7. New York City
  8. Honolulu
  9. Boston
  10. Nassau County, New York

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