Youngstown ranked second in US for affordable housing

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown is ranked by CNN Money as the second most affordable city in the United States for home buying.

The list cites the area’s median home price of $82,000, median income of $55,700 and that 92.9 percent of homes sold in Youngstown are classified as affordable, according to the list.

The ranking is based on the price of homes versus the median income of workers in the community.

The information from CNN Money stated that people have been abandoning Youngstown ever since most of its steel mills closed in the 1970s. Before that, Youngstown had some of the nation’s highest-paid factory workers, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Current incomes in Youngstown lag behind the national median income by 14 percent, according to CNN Money.

“Meanwhile, as the population shrank, demand for housing collapsed, pulling down real-estate prices. Immaculate four-bedroom Youngstown colonials can be purchased for a little over $100,000,” according to CNN Money. “Fine old homes, badly in need of repair, can sell for $12,000.”

Ogden, Utah, was the only city considered more affordable than Youngstown.

The rest of the top 10 were Indianapolis; Lakeland, Fla.; Toledo; Harrisburg, Pa.; Modesto, Calif.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Dayton.