5 Most Affordable Cities to Buy a House 2010

Here are the 5 metro areas where the average American family can easily afford to purchase a median-priced home - and the 5 where they can't. Top 5 Most Affordable Cities

1. (tie): Indianapolis
Median home price: $96,000
Median income: $68,700
Affordability score: 94.9%

America's most affordable housing market is the 33rd largest metro area in the United States, with 1.7 million people. The median family income is fairly high -- $68,700 -- and median home prices are a very reasonable $96,000, according to the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. Helping keep home prices depressed is a fairly virulent foreclosure plague: There were more than 18,400 properties with foreclosure filings during 2009. The turmoil in the auto industry, which Indianapolis had been closely associated with, has hurt the city. But increased diversification, which has made pharmaceutical companies, banks government agencies and insurers all important employers, has helped keep job losses in check. The unemployment rate was 9.5% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly matching the national rate of 9.7% that month.

2. (tie): Youngstown, Ohio
Median home price: $69,000
Median income: $53,500
Affordability score: 94.9%

Youngstown was a vibrant, wealthy steel city for many decades. Workers there were paid some of the highest factory wages anywhere. But the mill closings of the late 1970s devastated the area's economy, and about 40,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. In March, 14% of workers in the area were idle. As jobs vanished, the area's population shrank, leaving lots of vacant homes for sale -- from very modest row houses to huge mansions. That helps keep the median home price in the metro area very low -- and boosts Youngstown's affordability score. Low interest rates also help. Financing 80% of a $69,000 home with a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage at 5% would result in a monthly payment of $296. At those kinds of prices, renters soon become homebuyers.

3. Syracuse, N.Y.
Median home price: $95,000
Median income: $64,300
Affordability score: 94.5%

A newcomer to the list, Syracuse is one of the many Upstate New York cities that grew up along the route of the Erie Canal, which made them wealthy. Syracuse's importance as a transportation hub continues to this day, with two major interstates crossing here. Much of the area's economic base depended on manufacturing, and many of those industries have declined. While the metro area's population has expanded modestly, the core city has shrunk to fewer than 140,000 from a post-war high of 220,000. That shrinkage means there's much housing stock, keeping home prices very low. The economy slowed during the recession and unemployment grew, but the rate -- 8.5% during March -- is still lower than the national average.

4. Dayton, Ohio
Median home price: $88,000
Median income: $61,700
Affordability score: 94.4%

The hometown of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Dayton still hosts a significant aerospace industry centered on the Wright-Paterson Air Force base But the decline of heavy industry -- including last year's loss of the headquarters for NCR Corp., the old National Cash Register Co., to Duluth, Ga. -- has pushed the city toward the service economy for job growth. That has not stemmed the unemployment tide; the rate stood at 12.3% in March. The core city's population has dropped from a peak of more than 260,000 in 1960 to about 150,000 today. The metro area population has also dropped slightly over the past 10 years, according to Census Bureau estimates. That has lessened demand for homes and helped keep prices low; the median has hovered around $100,000, more or less, the entire decade. At the same time, median income has grown from about $55,000 to more than $62,000. That increase, coupled with very low mortgage rates, made home buying extremely affordable.

5: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Median home price: $102,000
Median income: $62,500
Affordability score: 93.7%

This medium-sized, western Michigan city flourished during the 19th century by turning nearby hardwood forests into furniture. Golden oak cabinets, dining tables and chairs once crafted in the area can now be spotted in many an antique store around the nation. Today, it still is a leading manufacturer of office furniture. The metro area, like much of the industrial Midwest, has seen better days. Besides furniture, it also had a robust auto manufacturing base, which has declined along with the rest of the industry. Grand Rapids economy is now more diversified with health services an important employer. Still, many people are out of work; the metro area's 12.8% unemployment rate is more than three percentage points higher than the national average. The people who are employed make decent wages, over $62,000 for the median household, more than enough to afford a nice house. There are many hundreds of homes for sale in the metro area for less than $90,000.


*** Written by: Les Christie, Yahoo! Real Estate