Best Affordable Suburbs: West

The Western U.S. has some of the highest property values in the country, but that doesn't mean you can't find bargains

by Maya Roney

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From the gold rush to the tech boom, there have always been compelling reasons to relocate to America's Western states. But the West also has its share of deterrents, including some of the highest home prices in the nation, especially in its most sought-after spots.

If you love the open spaces and laid-back lifestyle of the West but assume you can't afford to live there, look a little closer. In the region's undiscovered communities, bargains abound.

In the second part of our series on "America's Best Affordable Suburbs" by region (see BusinessWeek.com, 4/30/07, "Best Affordable Suburbs: Northeast"), we focus on the West. The list, compiled with Portland (Ore.)-based research group Sperling's Best Places, features suburban communities that are small cities themselves or near large cities (the average commute time among our suburbs is just under 25 minutes). Most of these places have low crime rates and great school systems. Sperling's also looks at factors such as the housing market (should be strong), population (should be growing), and even the weather (can't be too hot).

Making the Cut

But "affordability" is the key metric that separates these places from the many other wonderful places to live out West. That said, many of the towns and communities on our list have median home prices that still reflect the frenzied appreciation of the last real estate boom. (Bear in mind, however, that half the homes in each given area are priced below the median.) The average median home price on our list is $409,385, though they range from $183,500 (Logan, Utah) to $699,900 (Mukilteo, Wash.). The average cost of living index on the list is 122.4, with a range of 88 (Logan, Utah, again) to 186 (Valencia, Calif.), based on a national average of 100.

Clearly, these are not the cheapest suburbs in the region, but they are by no means the most expensive either. Bert Sperling, president of Sperling's Best Places, explains that less expensive areas do not have equally high secondary-school test-score indexes (average on the "Best Affordable" list: 114, where 100 is the state average) or equally low violent crime rates (average on list: 77, where 100 is the national average).

If these places still seem unaffordable to you, you could compare them with their less affordable neighbors. According to the National Association of Realtors, five of the top six metropolitan areas with the highest median home prices are in California. (The other is Honolulu.) None of our featured suburbs has a median home cost that rivals that of the San Francisco metro area ($736,800).

In fact, you won't see any San Francisco suburbs on our list. Nor will you find any in Hawaii or Arizona. "We're looking at places that are affordable, and we're looking for quality," Sperling reiterates. "It's just getting so hot [in Arizona] that the quality of life there is compromised. The housing market is also way overpriced for what it is, and I think there's going to be a correction." Hawaiian and San Franciscan suburbs don't meet Sperling's criteria for affordability. "But they're still wonderful places to live," he notes.

Seattle's Best

Many parts of the West didn't experience the rapid runup and subsequent correction in home prices seen in San Francisco and parts of Southern California. As the national median home sales price fell 2.7% from the fourth quarter of 2005 to the fourth quarter of 2006, the median home price in the Seattle metro area rose 11.3%.