![Home Values in These Small Towns Rival Big Cities [New LendingTree Report]](https://realtytimes.com/images/k2/30b938198c89ac4d2bf68f50521f6d22.jpg)
The town and country lifestyle is often depicted as simple, idyllic and inexpensive compared to big-city living — but how accurate is that?
To find out, LendingTree analyzed 50 towns in the United States with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 with the most expensive median home values. We then ranked the towns based on home values and compared them to home values in the nation’s 50 largest cities. Ultimately, we found that many towns across the country are chock full of expensive real estate, with prices that rival — and, in some cases, exceed — those found in big cities.
- Vineyard Haven, Mass., Jackson, Wyo., and Breckenridge, Colo., are the towns with the most expensive real estate in the U.S. The median home values in these towns are $998,100, $847,300 and $760,000, respectively.
- At $93,225, $102,435 and $100,611, median household incomes are higher in Vineyard Haven, Jackson and Breckenridge than in most other areas — but not high enough to offset high home values.
- While the towns featured in this study are the 50 most expensive in the country, not all are staggeringly high-cost. For example, median home values in Evanston, Wyo., Cambridge, Md., and Brookings, S.D., are $224,800, $226,000 and $227,800, respectively.
- Homes are least expensive relative to income in Evanston, Williston, N.D., and Rock Springs, Wyo. The median home value in these areas is an average of only 2.95 times higher than the median area household income.
You can check out the full report here: https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/most-expensive-towns-in-america/
LendingTree's Senior Economist and report author, Jacob Channel, had this to say:
"Unfortunately, high housing costs can be very difficult for many small-town residents to deal with. This is especially true in areas that are popular vacation destinations - like most of the towns that populate the higher end of our study’s ranking - where buyers who earn their money elsewhere and only live in a town part time can afford to outspend an area’s full-time residents."
