Funny that SmartAsset didn’t include prospects for first-time homebuyers in its methodology for determining good cities for young professionals. According to the same financial advisors who give GOED brag-fodder about Sioux Falls’s supposedly superior conditions for young professionals, at least 40 other cities are better places to buy your first house than Sioux Falls:
SmartAsset’s first-time homebuyer city rankings use some of the same criteria as its young professional city rankings, like the unemployment rate, density of entertainment establishments (thought the YP list considers “arts, entertainment, or recreation” while the FTHB list considers “dining and entertainment”). But this homebuyer’s list also considers price-to-rent ratio, five-year home value appreciation, foreclosure rates, housing costs as percentage of income, effective property tax rate, down-payment-to-income ratio, average commute time, and violent crime rate. By those metrics, young professionals can find better deals on their first houses in Omaha, Lincoln, and St. Paul than in Sioux Falls.
Bonus Pitch for Pedalists: Buy that cute little house in St. Paul right now, and you’ll be in the tenth-bike-friendliest city in the country! Plus, you’ll be living on a network of bicycle paths that connect you to the second-bike-friendliest city in America, Minneapolis!