WalletHub has released its 2026 ranking of the best real estate markets in the United States, evaluating 300 cities for housing market strength, affordability and economic conditions.
Frisco, Texas, finished first among midsize cities with an overall score of 70.72. McKinney, Texas, placed second at 69.83, followed by Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at 68.97. Several other Texas and North Carolina communities also ranked high in the midsize category, including Durham, Denton and Cary.
Among large cities with populations above 300,000, Charlotte, North Carolina, led with a score of 64.62. Irvine, California, came in second at 64.28, and Raleigh, North Carolina, took third at 62.75. Henderson, Nevada, Fort Worth, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, rounded out the top six.
In the small-city group, Allen, Texas, ranked first with 65.30 points. Richardson, Texas, and Stamford, Connecticut, followed closely.
WalletHub scored each city on 17 metrics divided into two main categories. The Real Estate Market category carried 80 percent of the weight and measured home-value forecasts, price appreciation, days on market, underwater mortgages, rent-to-sale ratios, foreclosure rates, delinquency rates, vacancy rates, the share of newer homes and building-permit activity. The remaining 20 percent covered affordability and economic conditions, including housing costs relative to income, maintenance costs, population and job growth, unemployment, underemployment and median credit scores.
Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst, said current home prices alone do not tell the full story. “Current home prices are extremely important, but there’s much more that you need to look at when determining the health of a city’s real estate market. Factors like the cost of living, the potential for the value of homes to increase, the availability of recently-built homes and the quality of the city’s job market are all important to consider in conjunction with asking prices and interest rates. The best cities may not always be the cheapest, but they offer excellent housing options and long-term stability.”
Frisco stood out for its high share of homes built between 2010 and 2024, relatively affordable prices as a percentage of income, low maintenance costs and strong job growth. Similar strengths in newer housing stock, permit activity and employment gains helped other Texas and Southern cities rise in the rankings.
At the other end of the scale, several cities in Louisiana, Mississippi and older industrial areas posted lower scores, often reflecting higher rates of underwater mortgages, longer times on market or weaker price appreciation.
Data for the study were collected as of July 22, 2026, from sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Zillow, TransUnion and ATTOM. The full rankings and methodology are available on WalletHub’s website.
