Lafayette second-best place to buy a home for lower-income households

Deanna Watson, Lafayette Journal & Courier
·1 min read

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — If you're struggling to save for a down payment on a new home or earn just under the national median, Lafayette is the second-best place to be.

In a recent study by Rocket Homes, only Wausau, Wisconsin, ranked higher than Lafayette as the best major metropolitan area for homebuyers with household incomes of $65,000. The survey, the New York Times recently reported, compared home prices, mortgage payments, income and sales taxes, unemployment and crime rates, the health of residents and climate hazards.

Data used for the survey included:

  • Median home price sourced from the Federal Housing Finance Agency

  • University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics

  • American Community Survey

  • State and local income tax tables

  • Federal Emergency Agency

  • FBI

Top of the list, Wausau, Wisconsin,, boasts a median home price of $228,770 and an estimated monthly mortgage payment of $1,482. In comparison, Lafayette, according to Rocket Homes, offers a median home price of $240,078 and an estimated monthly mortgage payment of $1,347.

Rounding out the top five metropolitan areas were: Columbia, Missouri.; Grand Forks, North Dakota; and Morgantown, West Virginia.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette second-best place to buy a home for lower-income households