Fishers, Greenwood among 10 most affordable suburbs in U.S.
From the Indianapolis Star.
Fishers, Greenwood among 10 most affordable suburbs in U.S.
Turns out, living in those comfy suburbs doesn't have to break the bank — at least in central Indiana.
In a list of the top 10 most affordable suburbs in the U.S. released today by real estate research blog Movoto, two central Indiana nooks made the cut – Greenwood ranked 5th and Fishers ranked 9th.
A third Indiana burb, Clarksville (though technically considered a suburb of Louisville, Ky.) ranked 6th in the U.S.
The study considered these factors when compiling the top 10: Cost of living, food and utilities, housing affordability, property tax rate percentage, state income tax rate and sales tax rate.
In describing the two central Indiana suburbs, Movoto praised Greenwood for being more affordable than its central Indiana counterpart on the list.
The city south of Indianapolis "has a lower overall cost of living at six points below the national average, and lower utility costs at five points below average," the study said.
However, "Greenwood's median home price to income level of 2.87 to one gives the suburb the least affordable housing in our top 10," the report went on to say.
Homes in Greenwood have a median price of $147,600 while the median household income is $51,482.
Meanwhile in Fishers, it was the food and utility costs that pushed it to the top of the nation, with food falling eight points below the national average and utilities four points below.
Here is a list of the top 10, starting with No. 1: Midwest City, Okla.; Moore, Okla.; Cimarron Hills, Colo.; Pearland, Tex.; Greenwood; Clarksville, Ind.; Universal City, Tex.; Schertz, Tex.; Fishers; and Cibolo, Tex.
Movoto surveyed 139 suburbs, which comprise the largest suburbs of the 50 largest cities in the country. Using data from the U.S. Census, it gave each suburb a rating of one to 139 in those individual criteria, with one being the best possible score. Movoto then averaged the individual criteria scores to arrive at an overall one to 139 score, which determined the overall ranking.
