Kansas’ Prairie Village [1] is Zillow’s most popular city of 2022, representing rising interest in the Midwest and headlining a dramatic reversal from 2021’s predominantly West Coast leaders. 

Based on Zillow page-view traffic, available housing inventory, sales, price appreciation and other housing barometers that indicate consumer demand, Zillow analyzed thousands of ZIP codes within the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas to create a ranking of the site’s most popular U.S. cities. 

The most popular places on Zillow reflect a couple of trends we’ve been seeing over the past year. Where last year’s list was dominated by cities an hour or more away from the nearest major metro, this year’s top cities are closer to major metros, potentially offering a shorter commute for residents who are transitioning from fully remote work to hybrid arrangements.

Most popular on Zillow overall: Prairie Village, Kansas

An upscale suburban community just minutes from downtown Kansas City, Prairie Village was pushed to the top of Zillow’s popularity rankings with site-leading views of for-sale listings per day. Established on the Kansas-Missouri state line and featuring a number of activity-filled parks, posh shops and restaurants, Prairie Village was also tops on Zillow’s popularity rankings for small towns. The typical home in Prairie Village is valued at $416,187, [2] much higher than Kansas City metro’s $294,164.

The Kansas City metro is one of a host of Midwest markets still seeing robust competition for houses while the market is cooling rapidly in others. Mortgage payments as a share of income are less than the 30% threshold where housing costs become a financial burden, and the years needed for renters to save up for a down payment are far lower than the national average. Demand is strong as homes in the Kansas city metropolitan area went pending in less than two weeks in November, compared to 22 days for the nation overall, and page views increased 45% from last year.

Rounding out the top three are Derry, New Hampshire, a charming New England town less than 45 minutes from downtown Boston; and Bon Air, Virginia, a small residential community near Richmond with historic Victorian cottages lining its main road. 

Most popular large city: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids, Michigan, topped the popularity chart among cities with populations greater than 200,000, [3] driven by category-leading page views per listing and relatively affordable home values. A wide selection of breweries and a growing local foodie scene are putting Grand Rapids on the map for connoisseurs, evidenced by the near 11% increase in page views per listing per day. The typical home in Grand Rapids is valued at $261,178.

Richmond, Virginia — still a very competitive area for home buyers — landed in second place, and Omaha, Nebraska, took third. The three top results led the category for page views per listing, and all feature typical home values significantly lower than the national average of $357,733. 

Most popular seaside town: Beverly, Massachusetts

This Boston suburb features miles of coastline and easily accessible public parks, helping to make it Zillow’s most popular seaside town [4] in 2022. Top rankings for page views and relatively low home values compared to its competition helped propel Beverly to the crest of the category. The typical home in Beverly is valued at $657,334.

Gloucester, Massachusetts, and Newport, Oregon, (the most popular beach town in 2021) ranked second and third for similar reasons. 

Most popular retirement town: Dunedin, Florida

With Dunedin’s location on the Gulf Coast west of Tampa, along with local access to plenty of waterfront parks and country clubs, its popularity as a retirement town [5] is easy to understand. Its relative affordability with the typical home valued at $431,026 pushed Dunedin to the top of the ranking despite other cities receiving more page views.

Florida is home to the top three cities in the category, with Sarasota placing second, and St. Pete Beach in third. Demand for homes has surged in Florida throughout the pandemic, as the state is both a sunny, relatively affordable locale and a prime retirement destination, and it has stayed hot as expensive Western markets cooled in 2022.

Most popular small town: Windham, New Hampshire

Zillow defined “small towns” as cities with populations between 15,000 and 25,000. [6] Windham, a bedroom community outside Boston, scored highest on Zillow’s index after Prairie Village. Typical home values of $738,574 in Windham are higher than the Boston metro ($643,642), and its home values have risen faster since last year compared to its competitors. Home prices grew 12.5% in Windham since last November, compared to 8.4% in Prairie Village.

Hockessin, Delaware, located outside Philadelphia, followed Windham for third. . 

Most popular vacation town: Lavallette, New Jersey

A popular summer vacation destination [7] for dwellers of nearby New York, Lavallette features long, sandy beaches for swimming, surfing and fishing in the Atlantic; space for bocce, tennis and rollerblading; and opportunities for crabbing, sailing and other water sports in Barnegat Bay. It’s also a hot spot for retirees. While vacation homes come with higher price tags, Lavallette ranked as more relatively affordable with a typical home valued at $985,992.

Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, and South Lake Tahoe, California (the most popular city in 2021), followed Lavallette in Zillow’s results. 

Top college town: Tempe, Arizona

For the most popular college town, Zillow leveraged the number of rental listings, median list rent, rent growth, and rental page views to create an index for top college towns, with page views given the most weight. 

Reigning as Zillow’s top college town [8] for the second year in a row, Tempe is home to the second-highest total number of rental listings among college towns studied, after Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has one of the largest populations of undergraduate and graduate college students.

Smithfield, Rhode Island, where Bryant University is located, came in second place; while Bowling Green, Ohio, home of Bowling Green State University, landed third. 

Methodology

Each of Zillow’s most popular city indexes is designed to highlight cities most desired by Zillow users based on a mix of factors pertinent to each category. Zillow housing indicators and variables were weighted for the final index to prioritize page views per listing per day and affordability with growth potential. Scores reflect data from January 2022 to November 2022. The analysis used ZIP codes to map cities. Places with small ZIP code populations, not included in the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 5-year American Community Survey data were omitted from the analysis.

Zillow analyzed the following main variables:

• Typical home values in November 2022, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), with cities with higher home values receiving a lower weight to capture affordability

• Year-over-year growth in ZHVI from November 2021 to November 2022

• Zillow’s page views per for-sale listing per day from January 2022 to November 2022

• Sales count from January 2022 to October 2022 (excluded cities with fewer than 75 sales during that period)

• Share of housing units listed from January 2022 to November 2022, as measured by the share of ACS housing units listed for-sale (excluded cities with fewer than 150 active listings)

[1] Prairie Village, KS, ranked No. 1 in two separate categories, including “most popular overall” and “most popular small town.” Prairie Village was omitted from the “most popular small town” index, and the city that ranked second-highest in this particular category was named the most popular.
[2] Based on raw Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI); as of November 2022.
[3] As measured by the 2021 5-year American Community Survey.
[4] Zillow defined “seaside towns” as areas where more than half of listings mentioned the beach, and excluded all cities that don’t feature the word “beach” in at least 50 listings on Zillow.
[5] Zillow defined “retirement towns” as areas where at least 33% of the population is over the age of 65 and has no children or other relatives (other than a spouse) living in the home.
[6]  As measured by 2021 5-year American Community Survey.
[7] Zillow defined “vacation towns” as areas where more than 33% of the housing units are designated for non-primary use.
[8] Zillow defined “college towns” as cities with the share of an area’s population of college students at least 20% or more based on 2021 U.S. Census data.

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