Owners.com, an online real estate brokerage, today released data ranking the 20 best U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for single women to live.
Topping the list was the Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, Ohio area, followed by Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas area. Coming in third was the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Recent findings show that single female home buyers outnumber single male home buyers. (Single women make up 17 percent of the national market and single men make up seven percent.)
Owners.com analyzed markets women might consider based on a variety of factors, including the percentage of single women homeowners and housing affordability, as well as market attributes like crime rates, access to public transportation, walkability and the cost of dinner for two. The Owners.com study then filtered out MSAs where women earn below-average incomes.
Reviewing this group, the study uncovered key insights on the top 10 markets:
• They offer women affordable housing:[2] The top 10 markets are 70 percent more affordable than the next 10 markets, which include distinctively expensive markets like New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
• They offer affordable dining options: In the top 10 markets, the average cost of dinner for two at a three-plus star restaurant is 18.6 percent less expensive than the next 10 markets.
• They have, on average, 5.1 percent more single women homeowners than the next 10 markets, suggesting that affordability is a measurable factor when single women determine where to purchase a home.
“There is a noticeable shift toward more single women entering the real estate market, particularly given lower unemployment rates, rising incomes and the value placed on home ownership,” said Phil Karp, senior manager of brokerage services at Owners.com. “Housing inventory remains low and costs are high throughout the country. Savvy buyers should seek modernized brokerage models that not only offer rebates at close, but also provide data to support smarter, data-informed purchase decisions.”
Top 20 Markets to Live for Single Women Ranked by Affordability
MSA % Single Women Homeowners[3] Average Home Value Median Female Income Annual Crime Rate per 100,000 [4] Transit/ Walkability Score[5] Average Cost of Dinner for Two[6]
1 Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH 15.2% $158,100 $40,392 974.7 46.5 $62
2 Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS 16.5% $162,000 $40,098 1086.9 31.5 $61
3 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK 13.7% $169,000 $40,484 675 42 $64
4 Albany-Schenectady, NY 18.1% $189,100 $42,921 380 79 $77
5 Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs, GA 15% $181,700 $40,472 1379 46 $77
6 Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI 16.9% $190,000 $40,910 1294.5 55 $73
7 Hartford-West Hartford, CT 16.2% $245,900 $50,795 961.2 66.5 $90
8 Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI 15.1% $226,300 $45,970 992.2 63 $81
9 Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC 16% $204,100 $41,311 423.2 26.5 $86
10 Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI 15.9% $218,900 $43,217 884.3 71.5 $76
11 Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD 16.4% $233,200 $45,971 1160.1 72.5 $85
12 Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT 16.5% $333,200 $50,607 835 77.5 $104
13 Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA 15.9% $347,700 $52,389 1177.9 74 $94
14 Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA 14.8% $281,600 $41,660 517.2 57.5 $73
15 Seattle-Tacoma, WA 14.6% $336,100 $48,889 597.6 65 $88
16 Denver-Aurora, CO 14.5% $314,700 $45,261 615.9 53.5 $90
17 Sacramento-Roseville, CA 15.2% $333,500 $45,772 738.6 40 $58
18 New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA 16.3% $384,300 $50,235 639.3 86.5 $123
19 Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA 13% $461,500 $40,935 481.1 58.5 $81
20 San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA 13.7% $658,600 $54,458 363.3 83 $97