Michigan is home to the nation’s “most affordable” community to buy real estate when evaluating ZIP codes with 10,000 or more people.
The 48505 ZIP code, located in Flint, has a median home price of $27,703, according to real-estate marketplace Zillow.
When compared to the community’s median income ($29,061), the 48505 has a home-price-to-household-income rate of 0.95 — the lowest in the U.S., according to an analysis by American Home Shield, a home warranty company based in Tennessee.
A low rate means a high degree of affordability. Conversely, a high price-to-income rate means homes are less affordable.
American Home Shield evaluated ZIP codes with at least 10,000 residents across the country, using data from October 2023. That included 325 communities in Michigan.
Two other Michigan cities — 48504 in Flint and 48205 in Detroit — secured spots in the top four most affordable communities with ratios of 1.13 and 1.15, respectively.
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The average cost of a house in the U.S. today is over half a million dollars. In a country home to both most of the world’s billionaires and 37.9 million people living in poverty, that figure could either be astronomically out of a person’s budget or just a drop in the bucket.