The 10 Best Cities to Buy Your First Home, According to Zillow

The housing market has seemed nearly impossible to break into in recent years if you don’t already have home equity, significant savings, or an inheritance you can tap, as there simply may not be money to set aside for a reasonable downpayment while also paying a small fortune in rent. Low supply, high demand, steep price increases, and competition certainly don’t make it easier.

That said, first-time homebuyers are slowly clawing their way in—they made up nearly half of all buyers last year, up from 37% in 2021. A new report from Zillow lists the 10 best markets for those looking for a starter home, so if you’re a motivated first-time buyer, you may want to consider moving to one of these cities.

Zillow used four factors to determine which markets made the list:

Rent affordability (share of median household income spent on rent)
Share of available Zillow inventory that a median household would spend no more than 30% of income on monthly mortgage cost
Ratio of affordable for-sale homes to renter households
Share of households ages 29–43

The logic is that more affordable rent equals less time saving for a downpayment for a more affordable home, and more inventory means more choices, so you don’t just have to take whatever you can get.

All of the cities included are sizable metropolitan areas. St. Louis took the top spot, where affordable listings make up 67% of the homes for sale, and the median household income spent on rent is just 20%. (All of the cities on the list are between 20% and 23%.)

A surprising market to find here is Austin, Texas, which comes in at number five. Affordable listings in Austin make up a measly 23% (compared to nearly 50% or more in all other markets included) but the rent spend is only 20%, and 34% of households are of home-buying age.