Philly loves a good ranking, but this one may not exactly be worth a pat on the back. According to WalletHub’s 2016 Best and Worst Cities for First-Time Homebuyers report, Philadelphia is the 195th best place to buy.
WalletHub analyzed 300 U.S. cities of varying sizes, taking into account a long list of factors like affordability, real estate taxes, quality of life, and crime.
Each city was given a rank score out of 100. Using U.S. Census data, the researchers determined that Philadelphia’s total ranking was 47.52 points. Compare that to Overland Park, Kansas’ score of 68.49, which earned the small city the top spot out of all 300.
Now, given the difference in populations, that doesn’t make for quite the perfect comparison. So the researchers also broke down the rankings by city size. Even then, however, Philly failed to perform well. Out of the 62 large cities with a population of 300,000-plus, Philadelphia was ranked 44th.
So what’s the cause for the crappy rankings? While Philly’s affordability ranking was a tad higher—recent stats put the median price of a home here at $235,000—the real estate market and quality of life scores pulled it down.
- Saving for a home in Philly costs $16 a day [Curbed Philly]
- How does Philly really compare to the rest of the U.S.? [Curbed Philly]