2026 Most Affordable Towns Index
Towns of 5,000 people or more, ranked by rent, regional prices, taxes, electricity, and gasoline. Gasoline is 10% of the score. The other four parts are 22.5% each. A lower score is more affordable.
National index · Press · How we count
By state
Open a state for its top 25 and its least affordable 10.
- Alabama12.5%Headland leads 120 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Alaska10.0%Chena Ridge leads 24 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Arizona14.5%Somerton leads 93 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Arkansas13.5%Magnolia leads 71 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- California15.9%Holtville leads 651 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Colorado16.7%Pueblo West leads 110 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Connecticut11.4%Cheshire Village leads 63 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Delaware16.8%Middletown leads 20 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- District of Columbia21.3%Washington leads 1 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Florida11.9%Floral City leads 480 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Georgia18.4%Sylvester leads 165 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Hawaii13.0%Kaiminani leads 55 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Idaho15.2%Chubbuck leads 36 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Illinois8.6%Mount Zion leads 334 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Indiana13.6%Yorktown leads 131 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Iowa13.4%Denison leads 85 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Kansas13.5%Ulysses leads 64 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Kentucky12.7%Reidland leads 84 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Louisiana11.3%Larose leads 101 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Maine12.1%Hampden leads 34 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Maryland14.5%Fountainhead-Orchard Hills leads 200 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Massachusetts13.5%Longmeadow leads 123 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Michigan13.7%Shields leads 179 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Minnesota13.7%East Grand Forks leads 150 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Mississippi15.2%Booneville leads 66 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Missouri12.6%Marshfield leads 141 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Montana14.5%Anaconda-Deer Lodge County leads 26 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Nebraska12.8%Alliance leads 33 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Nevada14.2%Winnemucca leads 33 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- New Hampshire13.6%South Hooksett leads 26 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- New Jersey13.1%Pomona leads 290 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- New Mexico15.4%Zuni Pueblo leads 44 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- New York13.3%Ilion leads 341 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- North Carolina12.3%Sawmills leads 164 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- North Dakota14.4%Wahpeton leads 13 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Ohio9.7%Canfield leads 288 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Oklahoma14.1%Lone Grove leads 75 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Oregon14.6%Creswell leads 105 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Pennsylvania12.4%Northwest Harborcreek leads 270 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Rhode Island12.0%Cumberland Hill leads 15 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- South Carolina12.0%Forestbrook leads 101 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- South Dakota10.6%Brandon leads 19 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Tennessee11.2%Mount Carmel leads 114 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Texas15.1%Mila Doce leads 423 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Utah13.5%Hyde Park leads 97 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Vermont16.7%Middlebury leads 13 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Virginia14.1%Bedford leads 197 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Washington13.3%Clarkston Heights-Vineland leads 190 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- West Virginia12.2%Teays Valley leads 31 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Wisconsin13.2%Rothschild leads 158 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
- Wyoming12.1%Douglas leads 17 ranked towns. This is rent as a share of income.
National top 100
Rent share is median annual rent divided by median household income.
#1
#2
#3
#4
Mount Carmel, Tennessee
Rent share 11.2% · Price level 86.4 (metro) · Score 0.122
#5
Booneville, Mississippi
Rent share 15.2% · Price level 87.0 (state) · Score 0.123
#6
#7
Wahpeton, North Dakota
Rent share 14.4% · Price level 89.0 (state) · Score 0.128
#8
#9
Ripley, Mississippi
Rent share 15.9% · Price level 87.0 (state) · Score 0.129
#10
#11
Dickinson, North Dakota
Rent share 13.9% · Price level 89.0 (state) · Score 0.133
#12
Youngsville, Louisiana
Rent share 14.5% · Price level 87.2 (metro) · Score 0.137
#13
Valley City, North Dakota
Rent share 15.5% · Price level 89.0 (state) · Score 0.139
#14
#15
Corinth, Mississippi
Rent share 16.3% · Price level 87.0 (state) · Score 0.146
#16
#17
Minot, North Dakota
Rent share 15.9% · Price level 87.0 (metro) · Score 0.149
#18
#19
Shenandoah, Louisiana
Rent share 13.5% · Price level 90.8 (metro) · Score 0.151
#20
#21
Sawmills, North Carolina
Rent share 12.3% · Price level 88.5 (metro) · Score 0.153
#22
#23
South Cleveland, Tennessee
Rent share 15.2% · Price level 88.1 (metro) · Score 0.156
#24
#25
Plaquemine, Louisiana
Rent share 15.2% · Price level 90.8 (metro) · Score 0.158
#26
West Fargo, North Dakota
Rent share 14.7% · Price level 90.9 (metro) · Score 0.158
#27
Brandon, South Dakota
Rent share 10.6% · Price level 90.6 (metro) · Score 0.159
#28
#29
#30
#31
#32
#33
Waveland, Mississippi
Rent share 16.2% · Price level 90.0 (metro) · Score 0.162
#34
#35
#36
#37
Prairieville, Louisiana
Rent share 15.1% · Price level 90.8 (metro) · Score 0.164
#38
Watford City, North Dakota
Rent share 15.7% · Price level 89.0 (state) · Score 0.165
#39
#40
Yankton, South Dakota
Rent share 14.0% · Price level 88.6 (state) · Score 0.165
#41
#42
Jamestown, North Dakota
Rent share 16.4% · Price level 89.0 (state) · Score 0.166
#43
#44
#45
#46
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
Rent share 17.3% · Price level 85.9 (metro) · Score 0.167
#47
#48
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Rent share 14.2% · Price level 88.6 (state) · Score 0.168
#49
Pierre, South Dakota
Rent share 15.2% · Price level 88.6 (state) · Score 0.169
#50
#51
Bismarck, North Dakota
Rent share 15.3% · Price level 91.0 (metro) · Score 0.170
#52
Teays Valley, West Virginia
Rent share 12.2% · Price level 88.4 (metro) · Score 0.171
#53
Tupelo, Mississippi
Rent share 17.7% · Price level 87.0 (state) · Score 0.171
#54
#55
Jefferson City, Tennessee
Rent share 16.8% · Price level 86.4 (metro) · Score 0.171
#56
#57
Middle Valley, Tennessee
Rent share 14.9% · Price level 91.5 (metro) · Score 0.172
#58
#59
#60
#61
Bayou Cane, Louisiana
Rent share 17.8% · Price level 85.1 (metro) · Score 0.172
#62
New Martinsville, West Virginia
Rent share 13.5% · Price level 89.5 (state) · Score 0.173
#63
Schriever, Louisiana
Rent share 17.8% · Price level 85.1 (metro) · Score 0.173
#64
Germantown, Tennessee
Rent share 14.5% · Price level 92.2 (metro) · Score 0.173
#65
#66
Philadelphia, Mississippi
Rent share 18.7% · Price level 87.0 (state) · Score 0.174
#67
Collierville, Tennessee
Rent share 14.6% · Price level 92.2 (metro) · Score 0.176
#68
St. Gabriel, Louisiana
Rent share 16.3% · Price level 90.8 (metro) · Score 0.176
#69
Mount Sterling, Kentucky
Rent share 15.0% · Price level 90.2 (state) · Score 0.177
#70
Williston, North Dakota
Rent share 17.0% · Price level 89.0 (state) · Score 0.177
#71
Ponchatoula, Louisiana
Rent share 17.9% · Price level 84.5 (metro) · Score 0.178
#72
#73
Harrisburg, South Dakota
Rent share 15.0% · Price level 90.6 (metro) · Score 0.178
#74
#75
Lenoir, North Carolina
Rent share 16.0% · Price level 88.5 (metro) · Score 0.179
#76
#77
Mount Washington, Kentucky
Rent share 12.6% · Price level 93.1 (metro) · Score 0.179
#78
#79
#80
#81
Weirton, West Virginia
Rent share 15.0% · Price level 89.0 (metro) · Score 0.182
#82
#83
Lynchburg, Moore County metropolitan government, Tennessee
Rent share 15.2% · Price level 91.9 (state) · Score 0.182
#84
Central City, Kentucky
Rent share 16.1% · Price level 90.2 (state) · Score 0.183
#85
Signal Mountain, Tennessee
Rent share 15.8% · Price level 91.5 (metro) · Score 0.183
#86
Hurricane, West Virginia
Rent share 14.8% · Price level 88.4 (metro) · Score 0.183
#87
Bridgeport, West Virginia
Rent share 13.3% · Price level 89.5 (state) · Score 0.183
#88
Denham Springs, Louisiana
Rent share 17.0% · Price level 90.8 (metro) · Score 0.184
#89
Lake Norman of Catawba, North Carolina
Rent share 14.0% · Price level 88.5 (metro) · Score 0.184
#90
#91
#92
Vienna, West Virginia
Rent share 16.1% · Price level 87.1 (metro) · Score 0.185
#93
#94
#95
#96
#97
#98
#99
#100
Belle Chasse, Louisiana
Rent share 15.5% · Price level 92.6 (metro) · Score 0.187
The formula
A lower score is more affordable. Rent share, the regional price level, taxes, and electricity each count 22.5%. Gasoline counts 10%. Those weights are our choice. Gasoline stays at 10% because the miles figure is one national standard, not a measured town commute. This is not a government standard.
A percentile is the share of ranked towns with a strictly lower number, divided by the number of ranked towns minus one. The lowest number scores 0. Tied numbers share a percentile.
- Rent share = (median monthly rent × 12) / median household income. Both figures are the Census 2020–2024 medians for that place.
- RPP-adjusted cost is the BEA 2024 all-items regional price parity. A basket priced at 100 for the U.S. average costs this many dollars in the town's area. We use the metro index when the county is in a metro BEA publishes. Otherwise we use the state index and say so. This index includes housing, so housing also shows up in the rent share.
- Tax burden is the average of three percentiles. Income-tax share is state income tax plus the stored 2023 local AGI add-on, divided by the town's median household income, on a joint return. Property share is the state's median effective property-tax rate times the town's median home value, divided by income. Sales rate is the combined state and average local sales-tax rate. We do not turn the sales rate into dollars, because that would require a shopping basket we do not have.
- Electricity is the state residential price in cents per kilowatt-hour. Every town in a state shares it. We do not guess how many kilowatt-hours a home uses.
- Gasoline is the EIA retail price for all grades and all formulations, in dollars per gallon. Where EIA publishes a state series, we use that state. Every other state uses the PADD region EIA assigns to it. Census does not publish commuting miles for these towns, so annual gas spend is 12,000 miles a year divided by 25 miles per gallon, times the price. That is 480 gallons, the same for every town. Those miles are our standard, not an ACS figure and not a government mileage rule. Because the gallons do not change, the gas percentile is the percentile of the price.
Weekly prices are for the week of October 12, 2026, from the EIA workbook released October 14, 2026. File: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/xls/pswrgvwall.xls. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Oregon use West Coast (PADD 5) Except California. That series is not in the weekly workbook, so those five use the monthly price dated September 15, 2026. File: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_a_epm0_pte_dpgal_m.htm.
- State series, week of October 12, 2026: California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington.
- Central Atlantic (PADD 1B), week of October 12, 2026: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.
- Gulf Coast (PADD 3), week of October 12, 2026: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico.
- Lower Atlantic (PADD 1C), week of October 12, 2026: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.
- Midwest (PADD 2), week of October 12, 2026: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin.
- New England (PADD 1A), week of October 12, 2026: Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.
- Rocky Mountain (PADD 4), week of October 12, 2026: Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming.
- West Coast (PADD 5) Except California, September 15, 2026: Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon.
Score = 0.225 × rent percentile + 0.225 × price-level percentile + 0.225 × tax score + 0.225 × electricity percentile + 0.10 × gasoline percentile. Rank 1 is the lowest score. If scores tie, the lower rent share wins, then the lower price level, then the place slug in A-to-Z order.
Who is left out
A town needs at least 5,000 people, plus a Census rent, income, and home value above zero. Each excluded place is counted once, at the first missing piece. We do not drop outliers.
8,240
Under 5,000 people
6,760
Places of 5,000 or more
61
Missing rent or income
35
Missing home value
0
Missing a price, tax rate, electricity, or gas figure
6,664
Ranked
The income-tax piece uses the same wage-tax model as the rest of the site. Washington's capital-gains tax is not applied to wages, and phase-outs are not fully modeled. The property piece treats the median home as owned at the state median effective rate. Renters do not pay that bill directly, and town millage is not in this file.
How to cite this
Free to quote and reuse if you credit Cost & Benefits and link to this page.
Cost & Benefits. "2026 Most Affordable Towns Index." October 16, 2026. https://costandbenefits.com/reports/most-affordable-towns-2026
https://costandbenefits.com/reports/most-affordable-towns-2026
Sources
- American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates 2020-2024. Population, median gross rent, median household income, and median home value for Census places.
- BEA regional price parities by state and metro area, 2024 Released February 19, 2026. All-items index, U.S. = 100. Metro index when the county is in a metro BEA publishes. Otherwise the state index.
- Tax Foundation state income tax rates and brackets As of January 1, 2026. The model is a joint return on the town's median household income, plus the 2023 local AGI add-on stored with that table.
- Tax Foundation state and local sales tax rates Combined state and population-weighted average local rate as of January 1, 2026. The same rate is used for every town in the state. It is not multiplied by a spending guess.
- Census ACS 2024 1-year median real estate taxes and median home value State effective rate is median real estate taxes divided by median home value. The index multiplies that state rate by the town's median home value.
- EIA Table 5.6.A average residential electricity price by state July 2026. Cents per kilowatt-hour. Every town in a state shares the state price. Usage is not estimated.
- EIA retail gasoline prices, all grades, all formulations Weekly all-grades prices are the week of 2026-10-12, released 2026-10-14, from pswrgvwall.xls Data 12. EIA publishes nine states in that file. Other states use the PADD region from the same week. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Oregon use West Coast (PADD 5) Except California from the monthly file dated 2026-09-15, because the weekly file does not include that series. Annual spend uses 12,000 miles a year at 25 miles per gallon. Census does not publish commuting miles for these towns.
Electricity month: July 2026. Gasoline week: 2026-10-12, with the West Coast except-California series dated 2026-09-15. Place file assembled 2026-10-16. Tax Foundation and Census property figures were last verified October 15, 2026.
Questions
What is the 2026 Most Affordable Towns Index?
Cost & Benefits ranks U.S. towns with at least 5,000 people when Census rent, income, and home value are all published. The score uses rent as a share of income, the BEA price level, a state and local tax model, the state electricity price, and a gasoline price. A lower score is more affordable.
Which places are left out?
8,240 places in the town file are under 5,000 people. Among places of 5,000 or more, 61 are missing rent or income, and 35 more are missing a home value. 6,664 towns are ranked.
Does a high rank mean a family will get benefits?
No. This list does not approve food stamps, Medicaid, or any other benefit. A town can rank well and still be a hard place for a particular household.
Can I reuse the ranking?
Yes. Quote it or use the CSV if you credit Cost & Benefits and link to https://costandbenefits.com/reports/most-affordable-towns-2026.