House care experts at Excel Pest Services have released their latest study analyzing over 100 US towns and cities to reveal the best cities for house buyers in 2022
There’s no doubt in the fact that buying a house is a massively exciting thing to do. According to a recent study, around 80% of Americans claim that owning their own home would be one of the biggest achievements in life. There’s no doubt in saying that the choice of where to live is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make.
To help first-time buyers, last-time buyers, and everything in between, Excel has created a tool that allows people to compare US cities and towns for their home buying prowess.
The study considers nine data points that fit into three different categories. Lifestyle considers the number of schools and restaurants per 100,000 people, along with a new crime index. The environmental category uses green space, the population within 10 minutes of a park, and the air quality. The financial category focuses on average salary, basic utility costs, and average house prices.
Across the US, Irvine, California, is named as the outright best city to buy a house in 2022 based on a combination of all nine data points with consistently high performance in each category. The California city has the fourth-highest greenspace coverage in the study with just Seattle, Fremont, and Scottsdale ranking ahead of it. Irvine is the seventh safest city in the study’s new crime index – which considers everything from murder to burglary and vehicle theft to assault. Winston-Salem is the safest city in the data with Gilbert and Chula Vista making up the top three. Memphis and St Louis are ranked as the two most unsafe cities.
Scottsdale, Arizona, is in second place with a combination of good lifestyle and environmental factors. Scottsdale ranks in the top 10 for restaurant access, offering top-notch nightlife, and ranks as the third-highest city for greenspace coverage. The city also has some of the cleanest air in the data with an index of 14 based on the density of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 in the atmosphere. best
The average net salary between the top two cities is among the highest in the country. Irvine has the ninth highest at around $5,900 and Scottsdale features in 20th place with a net salary of around $5,200. In fact, all of the top 20 feature in the top 20% of average salary earners. best
San Diego, California, ranks in third place with Arlington, Virginia, and Jersey City, New Jersey, making up the top 5.
What goes up, must come down – the same theory can be applied to this study. At the bottom of the study in Detroit, Michigan, which offers homeowners the worst access to dining options and is named one of the most unsafe cities in the US. The cost of living in Detroit is high whilst net salary features in the bottom half. Wichita, Kansas, makes up the bottom two with high crime rates, a high cost of living, and a low average salary.best
St Paul, Minnesota, and Oklahoma’s Oklahoma City and Tulsa complete the bottom five.
Lifestyle Factors
Jersey City hosts the most restaurants per 100,000 people with over 2000 dining in or out options which is over 1,000 more than the next highest of Hialeah, Florida, and Arlington, Virginia. Three Floridian cities rank in the top 10 for this category.
Considering the number of schools for family house buyers, Florida dominates. Orlando and Miami have the most with 76 and 65 per 100,000 people respectively. Tucson, Cincinnati, and Richmond make up the top five.
Financial Factors
When we look at average salaries Californian cities run away with the lead, San Francisco and San Jose feature 1st and 2nd with the former being almost at $8,000 per month. Seattle and Jersey City also have some of the highest salaries.
Life can be expensive these days, nothing more so than basic utility costs. The average per month is around $175, cities like Newark, New Jersey, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Oakland, California, are almost double the average. Cities like Durham, North Carolina, Madison, Wisconsin, and Long Beach, California, are almost $60 cheaper than the average. At the bottom of the utility cost ranking is Jersey City, looks like New Jersey is the place to be for saving as many dollars as possible with average wages the highest.
Environmental Factors
The best city for air quality is Seattle, Washington, with an index ranking of just 1. This is based on the density of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 in the atmosphere. Seattle’s idyllic location near the mountains is certainly to thank for this air purity. Aurora, Colorado, ranks joint top with Seattle with an air quality index of 1. Portland comes in second place. best
When it comes to access to parks, Seattle also leads the way with over 97% of the population living within 10 minutes of greenspace. San Francisco, Boston, and Arlington also feature at the top of this particular ranking. best
Anchorage, Alaska, has the highest percentage of land used for parks and open space with 82%. This is considerably higher than second-place Fremont, California, which has 36% of land dedicated to parking use. best
MethodologyTo put together this interactive tool, Excel Pest Services collected data for 101 of the US’s biggest towns and cities. After analyzing the nine different data points, from a variety of sources, they were put into three different hero categories: lifestyle, environment, and financial for the ease of reading the interactive tool. We then grouped all the data points and assigned an overall rank to the cities, this is how the champions were crowned.