Grand Rapids is the No. 5 city for first-time homebuyers

Grand Rapids is the No. 5 city for first-time homebuyers

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Grand Rapids has been ranked among the best cities in the country for first-time homebuyers.

Grand Rapids ranks No. 5 in the U.S. and as the second-best mid-size city for newcomers to the housing market, according to a report published yesterday by WalletHub, a personal finance website.

The site compared a sample of 300 U.S. cities varying in size across three key categories: affordability, real estate market and quality of life. Each category contained a number of metrics.

Grand Rapids received a total score of 64.65 on a 100-point scale. The city is No. 17 in affordability, No. 18 in real estate and No. 142 in quality of life.

Comparatively, WalletHub’s best city for first-time homebuyers, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, has a score of 67.09, with an affordability ranking of 55, a real estate rank of 26 and a quality-of-life rank of 11.

Berkley, California is ranked as the worst city for first-time buyers, with a total score of 35.96, an affordability rank of 296, a real estate market rank of 283 and a quality-of-life rank of 197.

Top 10 cities and scores

1.   Broken Arrow, Oklahoma – 67.09
2.   Tampa, Florida – 65.79
3.   Centennial, Colorado – 64.74
4.   Boise, Idaho – 64.69
5.   Grand Rapids – 64.65
6.   Thornton, Colorado – 64.49
7.   Frisco, Texas – 64.26
8.   McKinney, Texas – 64.26
9.   Cary, North Carolina – 64.03
10. Gilbert, Arizona – 63.98

Bottom 10 cities and scores

291. Anchorage, Alaska – 39.61
292. Newark, New Jersey – 39.43
293. Elizabeth, New Jersey – 39.38
294. Miami Beach, Florida – 38.55
295. Oakland, California – 38.31
296. San Mateo, California – 38.27
297. San Francisco – 37.85
298. Flint – 37.36
299. Detroit – 37.21
300. Berkley, California – 35.96