The Midwest is your best bet for affordable homeownership, whether you’re a first-time buyer or ready to relocate to an area with a lower cost of living. Fourteen Midwestern cities received honors in a new MoneyLion analysis ranking America’s 25 best housing markets.
As for the 25 worst housing markets, the Southeast stunned with 17 cities sweeping the ranking. Three popular Florida metros were named among the top three worst markets.
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To find the 25 best and 25 worst housing markets in America, MoneyLion reviewed the 500 largest Metro Statistical Areas (MSA). For each MSA, we found the one-year change in home value, the two-year change in home value, for-sale inventory, mean days from listing to pending, mean list-to-sale ratio, mean days from pending to close, share of listings with a price cut and the mean price cut. We scored, weighted and combined these 10 factors, with the highest score being the worst housing market.
Key Findings
Wisconsin dominated the 25 best markets, with nine cities. Wausau, Appleton and Green Bay placed first, second and third. The remaining six cities include Janesville (#5), Racine (#6), Milwaukee (#7), Marinette (#12), Madison (#17) and La Crosse (#20). The average home price in these nine cities is around $321,000 — about 13% below the national average.
Wausau has the third-biggest increase in home value among all 500 MSAs in these rankings, up nearly 16% over the past two years.
Four Connecticut metros received honors in the 25 best markets. Hartford (#10), Bridgeport (#11), Norwich (#13) and New Haven (#23) all made this list.
Florida fared poorly, with 13 cities ranking in the 25 worst markets. The cities and their rankings include Punta Gorda (#1), Cape Coral (#2), Naples (#3), North Port (#4), Tampa (#9), Key West (#10), Sebastian (#11), Homosassa Springs (#14), Port St. Lucie (#16), Deltona (#18), Miami (#19), Ocala (#20) and Lakeland (#25). Home values have dropped 18% in Punta Gorda over the past two years — the biggest drop among all of the markets on the list.
Texas also ranked among the worst markets, with four cities: Austin (#7), Sherman (#8), Dallas (#17) and Athens (#23). Houston (35,184) and Dallas (32,708) have the most “new for sale” houses on the market.
Phoenix, ranked 21st on the worst markets list, has the fifth-biggest “new for sale” inventory, at around 25,000 houses, and 34% of those have been price reduced already — the highest percentage among the 500 MSAs in the study. On the other end, Rochester, New York, has had just 9% of listings reduce the price — the lowest number in the study.
Keep reading to see which housing markets are the best and worst in America.
Here are the best housing markets.
1. Wausau, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 8.6%
1-year $ change in home value: $21,881
Share of listings with price cuts: 10.2%
2. Appleton, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 6.2%
1-year $ change in home value: $20,718
Share of listings with price cuts: 9.2%
3. Green Bay, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 5.9%
1-year $ change in home value: $19,254
Share of listings with price cuts: 10.7%
4. Rockford, Illinois
1-year % change in home value: 9.2%
1-year $ change in home value: $18,917
Share of listings with price cuts: 16%
5. Janesville, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 7%
1-year $ change in home value: $19,688
Share of listings with price cuts: 14.4%
6. Racine, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 4.8%
1-year $ change in home value: $15,036
Share of listings with price cuts: 12.3%
7. Milwaukee
1-year % change in home value: 5.6%
1-year $ change in home value: $21,510
Share of listings with price cuts: 13%
8. El Centro, California
1-year % change in home value: 7%
1-year $ change in home value: $25,005
Share of listings with price cuts: 16.8%
9. Lebanon, Pennsylvania
1-year % change in home value: 5.5%
1-year $ change in home value: $16,630
Share of listings with price cuts: 15%
10. Hartford, Connecticut
1-year % change in home value: 5.1%
1-year $ change in home value: $20,422
Share of listings with price cuts: 12.9%
11. Bridgeport, Connecticut
1-year % change in home value: 5.8%
1-year $ change in home value: $42,873
Share of listings with price cuts: 13%
12. Marinette, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 7.6%
1-year $ change in home value: $14,676
Share of listings with price cuts: 14.9%
13. Norwich, Connecticut
1-year % change in home value: 6.3%
1-year $ change in home value: $26,050
Share of listings with price cuts: 15%
14. Grand Rapids, Michigan
1-year % change in home value: 4.9%
1-year $ change in home value: $16,852
Share of listings with price cuts: 17.6%
15. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1-year % change in home value: 4.6%
1-year $ change in home value: $17,157
Share of listings with price cuts: 17.2%
16. Grand Forks, North Dakota
1-year % change in home value: 7.3%
1-year $ change in home value: $18,962
Share of listings with price cuts: 14.7%
17. Madison, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 2.9%
1-year $ change in home value: $13,183
Share of listings with price cuts: 13.4%
18. Anchorage, Alaska
1-year % change in home value: 5.2%
1-year $ change in home value: $22,213
Share of listings with price cuts: 17.7%
19. Springfield, Illinois
1-year % change in home value: 8.8%
1-year $ change in home value: $16,297
Share of listings with price cuts: 18.3%
20. La Crosse, Wisconsin
1-year % change in home value: 4.9%
1-year $ change in home value: $15,576
Share of listings with price cuts: 14.4%
21. Rochester, New York
1-year % change in home value: 4.7%
1-year $ change in home value: $12,900
Share of listings with price cuts: 9%
22. Bismarck, North Dakota
1-year % change in home value: 5.7%
1-year $ change in home value: $20,081
Share of listings with price cuts: 18.4%
23. New Haven, Connecticut
1-year % change in home value: 4.8%
1-year $ change in home value: $19,937
Share of listings with price cuts: 14.6%
24. Manchester, New Hampshire
1-year % change in home value: 2.2%
1-year $ change in home value: $11,887
Share of listings with price cuts: 13.7%
25. Cheyenne, Wyoming
1-year % change in home value: 3.7%
1-year $ change in home value: $13,873
Share of listings with price cuts: 19.3%
Here are the worst housing markets.
1. Punta Gorda, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -8.9%
1-year $ change in home value: -$30,452
Share of listings with price cuts: 27.6%
2. Cape Coral, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -6.9%
1-year $ change in home value: -$26,150
Share of listings with price cuts: 27.9%
3. Naples, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -5%
1-year $ change in home value: -$35,276
Share of listings with price cuts: 26.5%
4. North Port, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -6%
1-year $ change in home value: -$26,919
Share of listings with price cuts: 30.8%
5. Kahului, Hawaii
1-year % change in home value: -4.3%
1-year $ change in home value: -$50,018
Share of listings with price cuts: 18.7%
6. Opelousas, Louisiana
1-year % change in home value: -5.9%
1-year $ change in home value: -$8,300
Share of listings with price cuts: 24.8%
7. Austin, Texas
1-year % change in home value: -6%
1-year $ change in home value: -$27,698
Share of listings with price cuts: 26.3%
8. Sherman, Texas
1-year % change in home value: -4.8%
1-year $ change in home value: -$14,818
Share of listings with price cuts: 28.4%
9. Tampa, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -3.1%
1-year $ change in home value: -$12,136
Share of listings with price cuts: 31.5%
10. Key West, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -1.2%
1-year $ change in home value: -$12,293
Share of listings with price cuts: 23%
11. Sebastian, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -3%
1-year $ change in home value: -$11,774
Share of listings with price cuts: 25.6%
12. Houma, Louisiana
1-year % change in home value: -3.9%
1-year $ change in home value: -$7,545
Share of listings with price cuts: 20.4%
13. London, Kentucky
1-year % change in home value: -6.2%
1-year $ change in home value: -$10,092
Share of listings with price cuts: 26.8%
14. Homosassa Springs, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -2.5%
1-year $ change in home value: -$7,047
Share of listings with price cuts: 29.2%
15. Sevierville, Tennessee
1-year % change in home value: -2%
1-year $ change in home value: -$8,284
Share of listings with price cuts: 32%
16. Port St. Lucie, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -2.8%
1-year $ change in home value: -$11,267
Share of listings with price cuts: 27.6%
17. Dallas
1-year % change in home value: -3.3%
1-year $ change in home value: -$12,670
Share of listings with price cuts: 29.5%
18. Deltona, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -2.6%
1-year $ change in home value: -$8,872
Share of listings with price cuts: 28.9%
19. Miami
1-year % change in home value: -2%
1-year $ change in home value: -$11,623
Share of listings with price cuts: 22.8%
20. Ocala, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -2.6%
1-year $ change in home value: -$7,234
Share of listings with price cuts: 27.5%
21. Phoenix
1-year % change in home value: -1.7%
1-year $ change in home value: -$7,742
Share of listings with price cuts: 34.1%
22. Somerset, Kentucky
1-year % change in home value: -4.6%
1-year $ change in home value: -$8,676
Share of listings with price cuts: 27.1%
23. Athens, Texas
1-year % change in home value: -3.1%
1-year $ change in home value: -$8,576
Share of listings with price cuts: 24.8%
24. Eureka, California
1-year % change in home value: -3.1%
1-year $ change in home value: -$13,546
Share of listings with price cuts: 18.7%
25. Lakeland, Florida
1-year % change in home value: -3.2%
1-year $ change in home value: -$10,076
Share of listings with price cuts: 26%
Methodology: For this piece, MoneyLion looked at the 500 largest Metro Statistical Areas (MSA) according to the real estate market and found the following ten factors. For each MSA, MoneyLion found: (1) the 1-year percent change in home value; (2) 1-year change in home value in USD; (3) 2-year percent change in home value; (4) 2-year change in home value in USD; (5) for-sale inventory; (6) mean days from listing to pending; (7) mean list to sale ratio; (8) mean days from pending to close; (9) share of listings with a price cut; and (10) mean price cut. All data was sourced from Zillow’s May 2026 data. All ten factors were then scored and combined with the highest score being the worst housing markets. In final calculations factors (1), (2), (9), and (10) were weighted 2x and factor (5) was weighted 0.5x. All data was collected and is up to date as of June 22, 2026.
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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