First-Time Homebuyers Have the Best Shot Here

As Zillow notes, it's only natural to want to try to buy your first home where you're already working and living—but your best bet may be in a completely different city. The real-estate market company looked at 50 of the biggest metro areas in the US, using four gauges: rent affordability; for-sale listings affordable to those bringing in a median income; those affordable listings relative to the number of renter households; and the share of households led by the key homebuying demographic of those between the ages of 29 and 43. The strongest of those markets mostly ended up falling in the Midwest and Sunbelt, with the Florida city of Jacksonville emerging as No. 1. Here, the rest of the top 10:

1. Jacksonville, Florida
2. Birmingham, Alabama
3. San Antonio, Texas
4. Atlanta
5. Houston
6. St. Louis
7. Detroit
8. Raleigh, North Carolina
9. Baltimore
10. Louisville, Kentucky

More here on each city.