Believe it or not — you don't have to sacrifice quality for affordability if you're looking to move in 2023.
In fact, there are several affordable cities throughout the US with great schools and urban amenities — mostly in the South and Midwest, according to a US News & World Report ranking of the cheapest places to live, released last week.
In order to determine the rankings, US News & World Report assessed typical incomes, typical housing costs (including taxes and utilities), and the percentage of income that goes to the cost of housing. It also took into account the cost of goods and services across the cities.
Rent or mortgage payments are considered affordable when a person limits them to 30% or less of what they make each month, according to Insider's personal finance desk. In each of the cities on the US News list — from Brownsville, Texas, to Youngstown, Ohio — the costs were even less: typical residents spend under 25% of their monthly incomes on housing.
No big cities made the cut. In fact, most of these places have a small-town flair and access to parks and hiking trails — outdoorsy lures that have been popular with American movers since the pandemic.
Several of these spots, like Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Green Bay, Wisconsin, also topped US News & World Report's overall list of best places to live. That ranking, also released last week, considered not only affordability but also how many people are moving there, how happy residents are, crime rates, and other quality-of-life indicators.
Here are the typical incomes and cost of housing in the top 15 cheapest places to live, according to US News & World Report.