The capital of Indiana is an important auto industry supplier, with transmissions, starters, gaskets and other parts still manufactured here.

As the auto industry has revived, so has the local economy. The city also has benefited from having diverse industries: Pharmaceutical makers (Eli Lilly), financial services firms (Conseco), the state government, and communications companies (Brightpoint) are all major employers. And the job market is improving: Unemployment fell in September to 6.4%, 1.5 percentage points below the national rate of 7.9%.

That's great news for job seekers, but home buyers may not be quite as happy. A few years ago, Indianapolis regularly led the affordability index; it's since slipped a couple notches. Still, Indianapolis is the largest metro area of the 10 most affordable cities.