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Oklahoma City Skyline from I-35 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aurora makes list of best places to live

Posted on June 1, 2017June 1, 2017 By Ray Hanania No Comments on Aurora makes list of best places to live
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Aurora makes list of best places to live

The City of Aurora has been included on a top 30 list of the best cities to live based on the affordability of housing for families, according to a study released this week by HomeUnion, an online real estate investment management firm.

HomeUnion published a list of the 30 best places for families to live based on housing affordability and school quality.

For the second consecutive year, Blue Springs, Mo., a suburb of Kansas City, topped HomeUnion’s list with a median home price of $159,700. Zip codes in Oklahoma City and St. Louis placed second and third, respectively in the rankings.

Aurora was the only city in Illinois included in the annually published ranking by HomeUnion. Click here to visit Aurora’s website.

Oklahoma City Skyline from I-35
Oklahoma City Skyline from I-35 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“For the past two years, we have been tracking metros with the highest housing affordability and best school districts,” explains Steve Hovland, director of research for HomeUnion. “As home prices continue to increase in many coastal markets, particularly in the western U.S., we are seeing the best opportunities for first-time home buyers with families in the center of the country. These areas are also good places for single-family rental (SFR) buyers to invest in housing. In fact, we are particularly bullish on Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis for SFR investors, and zip codes from all three of these metro areas earned spots within the top 10.”

Here are the 30 best places for families to live based on housing affordability and school quality:

Metro

State

Submarket

Zip Code

Schools

Price

Kansas City

MO

Blue Springs, Mo.

64014

88.5

$159,700

Oklahoma City

OK

Tuttle, Okla.

73170

89.6

$165,000

St. Louis

MO

Fenton, Mo.

63026

81.1

$167,000

Palm Beach, Fla.

FL

Boca Raton, Fla.

33496

87.9

$167,500

Chicago

IL

Aurora, Ill.

60503

81.9

$168,000

Indianapolis

IN

Brownsburg, Ind.

46112

86.3

$184,100

Cleveland

OH

Broadview Heights, Ohio

44147

87.1

$200,000

Philadelphia

PA

Horsham, Pa.

19044

84.2

$217,500

Atlanta

GA

Buford, Ga.

30519

86.5

$220,000

Columbus

OH

Powell, Ohio

43065

86.1

$229,500

Houston

TX

Katy, Texas

77450

81.2

$239,500

Pittsburgh, PA PA
Cranberry Township, Pa.

Cranberry Township, Pa.

16066 83.9 $274,000

Las Vegas

NV

Summerlin neighborhood

89144

81.9

$295,000

Jacksonville, Fla.

FL

St. John’s, Fla.

32259

81.6

$297,000

San Antonio

TX

Cross Mountain, Texas

78255

85.2

$317,100

Sacramento, Calif.

CA

Rocklin, Calif.

95677

81.5

$330,500

Charlotte, N.C.

NC

Matthews, N.C.

28104

87.7

$336,500

Nashville

TN

Thompson’s Station, Tenn.

37179

90.3

$372,500

Austin

TX

Williamson, Texas

78717

84.9

$375,000

Denver

CO

Centennial, Colo.

80122

83.3

$380,000

Portland, Ore.

OR

Lake Oswego, Ore.

97035

87.9

$417,500

Los Angeles

CA

Valencia, Calif.

91355

82.3

$480,000

Seattle

WA

North Bend, Wash.

98045

83.3

$510,000

San Diego

CA

Carmel Mountain Ranch

92128

89.7

$515,000

Washington, D.C.

MD

Mt. Airy, MD

21771

82.1

$529,500

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

FL

Weston, Fla.

33332

93.3

$567,100

Orange County

CA

University Park

92612

88.6

$579,000

Oakland, Calif.

CA

Walnut Creek

94596

94.8

$625,000

San Jose

CA

West San Jose

95130

80.5

$799,000

San Francisco

CA

San Anselmo, Calif.

94960

86.9

$1,035,000

Sources: HomeUnion Research Services and Maponics

Methodology for the study: HomeUnion included the most affordable zip code in each metro area where the average school rating was in the 80th percentile or higher. Owner-occupied, single-family homes that sold for more than $30,000 during late 2016 and early 2017 were used to determine the median sales price. Each zip code required at least 30 transactions to be included.

About HomeUnion
HomeUnion is an online real estate investment management firm. Based in Irvine, Calif., it provides all the services needed for individuals to invest remotely in rental properties. The company uses a combination of research and proprietary analytics to incorporate data on over 110 million homes and 200,000 neighborhoods into their database, and then delivers its solutions to an on-the-ground infrastructure that currently serves 11 locations. HomeUnion’s role spans the lifecycle of the investment transaction: identifying sound investments, handling all aspects of acquisition, maximizing income, protecting asset value, and selling the asset when the time comes.

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Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].

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