Hood River, Astoria, Ellensburg In US Top 10 in What Category?

For a number of years, we've heard from various 'experts' about the validity of moving to a small town to escape higher city prices. But in some communities, that's not necessarily true.

  Several WA, OR, and Idaho communities have some of the most expensive homes

A new study from Lending Tree compared average home prices vs. the average median income of smaller thousands of communities across the country. The study compiled the top 50 communities with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 who have the highest home prices.

They calculated the average home price of the town, vs. the average median income, and came up with a ratio. The results were rather surprising.

Several northwest communities made the list. Hailey, Idaho, with a population of 25,381, had an average home value of $534,900 with an average median income of $81.271.  Their home value to income ratio is 6.58, meaning the home value is 6.58 times the income. Hailey ranked 5th.

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Coming in 7th is Hood River, OR, with a population of 23.965, an average home value of $492.500, median income of $80,254, and a value-to income-ratio of 6.14.

  Ellensburg, WA landed at 8th, with average home value of $427,600, median income of $66,800 and the home value to income ratio of 6.25.   They're one slot lower than Hood River because of the home values.

Landing at 10th is Astoria, OR, with average home values at $407,700. income at $60,025 and a ratio of 5.99

According to Lending Tree:

"The data in this study comes from the U.S. Census Bureau 2022 American Community Survey (with five-year estimates). For this analysis, LendingTree used micropolitan-level data for areas with populations below 50,000 to approximate town-level data."

 Other NW communities making the list were Sandpoint, Idaho 15th, Pullman WA 24th, and LaGrande, OR 39th.