Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers (2025)

Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers (2025)

by | Jul 30, 2025 | Housing Market

Buying a home for the first time is an exciting and important milestone for many Americans. Their purchases make up a sizable chunk of the market, too. In 2024, a historic low of 24% of home purchases were made by first-time buyers, down from 32% the previous year.

For people willing and able to invest in a house this year, the search for a first home requires careful consideration of a number of factors. Buyers must balance what they want and need with what they can afford. Often, people begin searching for their dream homes without a realistic idea of market prices, interest rates or even their eligibility to get a mortgage.

Where a home is located is just as important as what features it has. If the neighborhood is unpleasant, it can sour the experience of a great home. Potential buyers may want to narrow their search down to an area with a good reputation before getting into housing details.

To simplify the process, WalletHub compared 300 cities of varying sizes across 22 key indicators of market attractiveness, affordability and quality of life. Our data set ranges from cost of living to real-estate taxes to property-crime rate.

“Buying a home for the first time is a very stressful and difficult process, especially when housing prices are through the roof and interest rates have risen sharply in the past few years. The best cities for first-time home buyers not only are affordable both in terms of buying a house and living there afterward, but they also have a lot of housing choices as well as low crime rates and good schools.”

Chip Lupo, WalletHub Analyst – full article here

Best Places for First-Time Home Buyers

Overall Rank City Total Score Affordability Rank Real-Estate Market Rank Quality of Life Rank
1 Palm Bay, FL 67.24 118 2 3
2 Boise, ID 64.73 61 8 27
3 Tampa, FL 64.41 170 5 6
4 Surprise, AZ 64.32 21 1 207
5 Huntsville, AL 63.79 36 35 43
6 Gilbert, AZ 63.5 34 17 85
7 Cape Coral, FL 63.43 145 4 20
8 Orlando, FL 63.01 159 7 17
9 Lakeland, FL 62.85 139 9 15
10 Sunrise, FL 61.82 153 22 13
11 Chandler, AZ 61.57 46 47 79
12 Green Bay, WI 61.23 44 145 10
13 Peoria, AZ 61.14 58 11 158
14 Lincoln, NE 60.97 91 93 18
15 Boca Raton, FL 60.6 206 12 1
16 Thornton, CO 60.55 117 56 23
17 Clearwater, FL 60.48 154 41 12
18 Henderson, NV 60.22 50 42 132
19 Kenosha, WI 60.21 43 180 8
20 Madison, WI 60.1 103 75 30
21 Scottsdale, AZ 59.88 146 15 65
22 Raleigh, NC 59.82 68 23 156
23 Arvada, CO 59.62 128 29 62
24 Fort Wayne, IN 59.61 7 114 131
25 Pittsburgh, PA 59.52 12 44 200
26 Atlanta, GA 59.37 84 13 170
27 Yuma, AZ 59.22 15 70 195
28 Pembroke Pines, FL 59.22 185 60 5
29 Chesapeake, VA 59.21 24 173 39
30 Murfreesboro, TN 58.9 83 32 163