Do any of Nebraska's cities rank among the most affordable for home buyers?

However, a new report from WalletHub suggests two cities in Nebraska might be more affordable than others, despite competitive housing markets.

To come to its findings, WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Association of Realtors, the Council for Community and Economic Research, and the Insurance Information Institute to determine city ranking in the report. WalletHub compared 300 U.S. cities across 10 key metrics, including housing affordability, insurance costs, real estate taxes, and appreciation rates, among others. (See how they weighted each of the 10 criteria in their methodology here.)

Lastly, WalletHub found each city's weighted average across all metrics to calculate overall scores and used them to rank the cities. (Scores for each city only include the city proper, and do not take into account bordering metro areas.)

The top 10 most affordable cities for home buyers in the U.S., overall, are listed below:

1. Montgomery, AL
2. Flint, MI
3. Toledo, OH
4. Detroit, MI
5. Akron, OH
6. Warren, MI
7. Pittsburgh, PA
8. Yuma, AZ
9. Springfield, IL
10. Palm Bay, FL

WalletHub also filtered its list by city size, categorizing large cities as those with more than 300,000 people, midsize cities as those with 100,000 to 300,000 people, and small cities as having fewer than 100,000 people.

In Nebraska, Douglas County's Omaha ranked 167th in WalletHub's list overall, which is closer to the middle of the rankings. It also ranked 42nd among large cities. Following Omaha was Lincoln, ranking 172nd overall, but 59th among midsize cities.

Data from real estate brokerage Redfin shows Omaha home prices rose 3.6% from 2022, selling for a median price of $260,000 in April. Meanwhile, data shows Lincoln housing prices jumped 2.8% from last year, with a median selling price of $285,000.