The 50 Cheapest, Safest Places to Buy a Home in the Pandemic
The 50 Cheapest, Safest Places to Buy a Home in the Pandemic ·GOBankingRates
John Csiszar
Updated 11 min read
The coronavirus has hit America hard. As of Aug. 22, more than 5.7 million cases had been reported in the United States, with over 177,000 resulting in death. Not surprisingly, cases have been concentrated in urban areas, as large populations living in close proximity make it easier for the virus to spread.
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Against this backdrop of growing coronavirus cases, mortgage interest rates have dropped sharply. The combination of affordable mortgages and the fear of rising virus counts in cities has led to something of a housing boom in suburbs, resort towns and rural areas.
To help locate affordable areas outside of coronavirus hotspots, GOBankingRates sourced data from the 2018 American Community Survey, as conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The goal was to find the cheapest, safest places to live during the pandemic by identifying counties with both few coronavirus cases and affordable home prices. Only counties with at least 70,000 residents were considered.
Some of the results might raise eyebrows. New York, for example, ranks fourth in the U.S. in total cases, but there are a dozen counties in the state on the GOBankingRates “safe and affordable” list. The reality here, of course, is that New York City suffered the bulk of the statewide cases; the farther you move away from the city, the more options you have for finding affordable homes in areas with a low coronavirus case count. Pennsylvania also dominates the list, offering 13 safe, affordable locations.
If you live in a high-case area, scan the following list to see if any of these 50 counties appeal to you. In Vermilion County, Illinois, for example, the average home price is just $68,242. You might find that moving out of the city can benefit both your health and your bank account, particularly if you live in one of the hardest-hit cities that have above-average rents.
Photo disclaimer: Photos are for illustrative purposes only. In many cases, the closest major city outside of the county was used.
Methodology: To discover the 50 cheapest, safest places to buy a home in the coronavirus pandemic, GOBankingRates looked at all U.S. counties with a population over 70,000, as sourced from the 2018 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. With these counties isolated, GOBankingRates looked at the Center for Disease Control’s United States COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by County tracker, with data provided by USA Facts, and found the following factors: (1) total cases of COVID-19 in the county; (2) percentage of state’s cases accounted for by the county; (3) COVID-19 cases per 100,000 county residents, and (4) total deaths from COVID-19 in the county. GOBankingRates then used Zillow data to find each county’s (5) June 2020 single-family residence home value. To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at factors (3) and (5) and scored them, with the lowest score being best. The 50 counties with the lowest overall score were included in the final rankings. All data was collected on and up to date as of Aug. 17, 2020.
