Coastal Mississippi is home to nation’s most budget-friendly beach homes, report says
Buyers in the market for a budget-friendly beach home should consider moving to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Four Coastal Mississippi cities landed on GOBankingRates’ Top 25 list of the most affordable waterfront towns in the U.S.
Gulfport, where the typical home value is $130,000, ranked highest on the list to round out the Top 10, according to the report. The others:
- Ocean Springs at No. 11
- Biloxi at No. 13
- Bay St. Louis at No. 14
For its rankings, the personal finance website reviewed 110 of the nation’s most popular waterfront towns and scored them based on several factors, including median annual household income, average home value and mortgage rates.
Researchers also pulled data from the Census Bureau, Zillow and Tax-rates.org “to calculate the annual total of mortgage payments for a typical house as a percent of the city’s median annual household income,” and ranked them accordingly, the report states.
Gulfport had among the lowest mortgage payments on the national list, in addition to cheap home values and “a rock-bottom property tax rate,” according to GOBankingRates.
“[This] means homeownership is a realistic option for just about anyone,” the report reads. “That’s impressive (and unusual) for a small city surrounded by all the amenities of a major beach resort — plus big-city perks like an international airport.”
The city’s median annual household income is $37,811, and the monthly mortgage payments average $488. Prospective residents can expect about 15% of their yearly income to go toward their mortgage, according to the report.
Ocean Springs is next on the list with a median annual income of $56,599 and typical home value of $171,343. Monthly mortgage payments average $643 and eat up around 14% percent of residents’ annual earnings.
Biloxi, where the average home is valued around $152,893, has average monthly mortgage rates of $574, according to GOBankingRates. The median annual income is about $45,000 “with only 15% of residents’ annual income going toward mortgage payments.”
One spot behind Biloxi is Bay St. Louis, which was crowned the “Best Place To Live in Mississippi” by Mississippi Magazine last year.
“Bay St. Louis ties a handful of other Southern cities for lowest property tax rate, and it has one of the lowest monthly mortgage payments in the GOBankingRates ranking,” according to the GOBankingRates report.
Residents there earn about $38,618 per year, and homes are valued at $141,009. Mortgages average $529 per month.
So which waterfront town is home to the nation’s most affordable abodes?
Toledo, Ohio, was ranked No. 1 followed by Jamestown, New York; Cleveland; Oswego, New York; and Storm Lake, Iowa, to round out the top five, according to the report.
This story was originally published April 19, 2021 at 1:20 PM.