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 (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 80^th 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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