Top 10 States for Homeowners

As mortgage rates drop to new lows and the pandemic puts a new emphasis on living spaces, more Americans are buying up homes. SmartAsset wanted to find the states that will give buyers more bang for their buck in terms of home value appreciation, median price per square foot, ratio of home value to income, foreclosures, taxes, crime, and more. For the top 10 states for homeowners, half are located in the west with another three in the northeast. Only two, Wisconsin and Indiana, hail from the midwest. Claiming the top spot is the state of Wyoming. Homeowners may appreciate living in this state due to its low property taxes and home value appreciation, says SmartAsset. Did your state make the list? Read more to find out.

With homeownership becoming increasingly popular, SmartAsset examined the data to find the best states for homeowners. We compared all 50 states across 10 metrics: median price per square foot, home value appreciation, ratio of home value to income, foreclosures per 10,000 homes, average annual homeowners insurance, burglary rate, median annual property taxes, effective property tax rate, average closing costs and average closing costs as a percentage of median home value. For details on our data sources and how we put all the information together to create our final rankings, check out the Data and Methodology section below.

3. Indiana

Homeownership in Indiana is relatively attainable for the average household. In 2018, the home value to income ratio was 2.64, the second-lowest in our study. Indiana additionally ranks well for its low property taxes, closing costs and homeowners insurance. The median annual figure paid in property taxes in Indiana is $1,214, the eighth-lowest across all 50 states. Meanwhile, average closing costs ($2,627) and average annual homeowners insurance ($901) are the second- and seventh-lowest, respectively.

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