A home’s location plays a major role in determining how much it’s worth. But where are the most and least affordable ZIP codes to buy homes in Arizona?

LEARN MORE: Why Arizona housing affordability is a ballooning concern

In this new study, American Home Shield compared home prices from Zillow against local salary data from the U.S. Census Bureau to find the most and least affordable ZIP codes for residents to buy a home in the U.S.: https://www.ahs.com/home-matters/real-estate/the-most-affordable-zip-codes-to-buy-property-in-every-state/

They found that Globe, AZ (85501) has the most affordable homes in Arizona at just 3.6x the city’s average income. While Sedona (86336) has the least affordable homes – 17.3x the city’s average income:

Most affordable ZIP codes

What We Did

We first used a U.S. Census databank to retrieve the population of every ZIP code in the U.S. with more than 10,000 residents. For each ZIP code, we then gathered the median home price (from Zillow) and the median household income (from U.S. Census data). We then divided each ZIP code’s median home value by the median household income, giving us a home price-to-household income ratio. The last step was to rank the most affordable (i.e., the lowest ratio) and least affordable (highest ratio) ZIP codes in the country for locals to buy a house.

Key Findings

  • The most affordable ZIP code in the country for locals to buy a house is 48505 in Flint, Michigan. The median house price is 0.95 times the median annual salary of a local worker.
  • The least affordable is the 90210 ZIP code of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, where a typical home costs 34.82 times what a typical local worker earns in a year.
  • In New York City, two ZIP codes in the Bronx are the most (10462) and least (10454) affordable for local residents to buy a home.
  • In Chicago, 60661 (Near West Side) is the most affordable ZIP code, while 60653 (Grand Boulevard) is the least affordable
  • In Houston, 77345 (Kingwood) is the most affordable ZIP code, while 77024 (around Piney Point Village) is the least affordable.
  • In Philadelphia, 19133 (Fairhill) is the most affordable ZIP code, while 77024 (parts of Ludlow) is the least affordable.

Flint, Michigan, ZIP Code Is the Most Affordable Place in the U.S. for Locals To Buy Property

In the Flint, Michigan, ZIP code of 48505, the median price of a home ($27,703) is less than what a typical local worker makes annually ($29,061), making for a home price-to-household income ratio of 0.95. This earns the ZIP code the title of the most affordable in the country for locals to buy a house. Rocked by a crisis that saw the local water supply contaminated with lead and harmful bacteria, the population of the city as a whole has dropped, likely decreasing demand for housing.

After that, the ranking is mostly populated by ZIP codes in America’s Rustbelt, a region that suffered economically after the decline in heavy industry. Population has declined, too, but in recent years, millennials have been flocking to Rustbelt towns due to the cheaper housing.

Least affordable ZIP codes