Contrary to popular belief, buying a home isn’t always a better financial decision than renting. It depends on quite a few factors, from your home’s appreciation rate to the property taxes in your area. Looking at a handful of metrics, including these, Bankrate put together a ranking of the best metro areas for homeowners.


Their study reviewed data from a variety of sources, including the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Council for Community and Economic Research. It looked at eight basic factors: home affordability; price appreciation; property taxes; homeowners’ insurance, energy and maintenance costs; foreclosures and how rapidly rents rose over the past six years.


Portland was No.1 on their list, only partly because Oregon has the lowest insurance premiums at $568 a year. More importantly, Portland had the third-lowest foreclosure rate of the areas surveyed (0.3% a year in the past 3 years.), home maintenance costs and energy bills were also low, and with the 6th highest rate of rent increases, homeownership looks even better in Portland. Phoenix, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis rounded out the top five.

Of course, any list like this is going to offer a general view, and in this context, “best” refers to the financial aspect of homeownership. But the rankings cover some important factors in this area. The above chart shows you how 14 of these areas rank but check out the full list of cities at the link below—including the worst cities for homeowners.

How Bankrate determined the best and worst cities for homeowners | Bankrate