The 5 Best Cities for First-Time Homebuyers All Have One Thing in Common

Figuring out where to start your search as a first-time homebuyer can be just as difficult as picking out the perfect space to call home. Depending on where you’re looking to buy, you might pay a lot more in property taxes, pay more per square foot, have to rent parking, or pay into an HOA. The fees can seriously add up. So where are the friendliest cities for first-time homebuyers to make easing into the chaos a little bit easier?

Well, a new report from WalletHub that ranks the best and worst cities for first-time homebuyers claims that the top five friendliest cities for first-time buyers are all in the sunshine state of Florida.

WalletHub ranked 300 cities in the U.S. of all sizes for affordability, quality of life, and how healthy the real estate market is, using 22 key factors like crime rate, rate of foreclosures, home energy costs, the job market, and the quality of schools. Each city was given a media score out of 100, and scores were drawn from how well they performed in each of the three departments, which were given an equal weight.

Using extensive data collected in mid-June of 2024 from a number of different sources — including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Council for Community and Economic Research, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Insurance Information Institute, the National Association of Realtors, and ATTOM, a property data provider on the U.S. foreclosure activity — WalletHub found that Palm Bay, Florida, came in first with a score of 68.91, followed by Cape Floral (67.32) and Port St. Lucie (66.06). 

Two other Florida cities, Tampa and Orlando, rounded out the top five with scores of 65.47 and 65.18. These Florida front-runners scored particularly highly for their quality of life (Tampa was the winner there, while Palm Bay came in third) and thriving real estate market. Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, and Palm Bay were the top three scorers there. However, these Florida cities were dinged quite a bit in the affordability department, with Palm Bay coming in at 122 out of the 300 cities.

Cassandra Happe, a WalletHub analyst, told the finance platform that “Palm Bay … [leads] the country when it comes to active home listings per capita and new building permits per capita,” she said, also citing Palm Bay as having the third-highest millennial home-ownership rate. “Homebuyers with children will benefit from Palm Bay’s good school system.”

Surprise, Arizona, came in sixth on the list of best cities for first-time homebuyers, thanks to its 22 affordability score and fourth place real estate market ranking. It was followed by Lakeland, Florida; Boise, Idaho; Gilbert, Arizona; and Henderson, Nevada.

Meanwhile, the 10 cities that were ranked at the bottom of the list were all based in California except for two. In general, they’re also larger, more expensive urban hot spots. 

In the Wallethub survey, Berkeley, California, came in dead last with a score of 29.12, followed by Santa Monica, California (31.17); Anchorage, Alaska (32.81); Santa Barbara, California (32.93); Oakland (33); San Francisco (34.72), Los Angeles (35.78), Costa Mesa, California (37.54); and New York City (38.06). 

1. Palm Bay, Florida 
2. Cape Coral, Florida
3. Port St. Lucie, Florida
4. Tampa, Florida
5. Orlando, Florida
6. Surprise, Arizona
7. Lakeland, Florida
8. Boise, Idaho
9. Gilbert, Arizona
10. Henderson, Nevada

300. Berkeley, California
299. Santa Monica, California
298. Anchorage, Alaska
297. Santa Barbara, California
296. Oakland, California
295. San Francisco, California
294. Los Angeles, California
293. Glendale, California
292. Costa Mesa, California
291. New York, New York

See the full list of the best cities for first time home-buyers here.