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Calling All Single Ladies: Cincinnati, OH Tops List of Best Places to Live for Single Women

September 18, 2017

To celebrate National Singles Week, Owners.com identifies top 20 markets for single women based on affordability

ATLANTA, September 18, 2017 – Owners.com, an innovative online real estate brokerage, today released data ranking the 20 best U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for single women to live. Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH comes out on top, followed by Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS and Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK. Recent findings show that single female home buyers outnumber single male home buyers.[1] (Single women make up 17 percent of the national market and single men make up seven percent.)

 

Owners.com analyzed markets women might consider based on a variety of factors, including the percentage of single women homeowners and housing affordability, as well as market attributes like crime rates, access to public transportation, walkability and the cost of dinner for two. The Owners.com® study then filtered out MSAs where women earn below-average incomes.

 

Reviewing this group, the study uncovered key insights on the top 10 markets:

  • They offer women affordable housing:[2] The top 10 markets are 70 percent more affordable than the next 10 markets, which include distinctively expensive markets like New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  
  • They offer affordable dining options: In the top 10 markets, the average cost of dinner for two at a three-plus star restaurant is 18.6 percent less expensive than the next 10 markets.  
  • They have, on average, 5.1 percent more single women homeowners than the next 10 markets, suggesting that affordability is a measurable factor when single women determine where to purchase a home.

 

“There is a noticeable shift toward more single women entering the real estate market, particularly given lower unemployment rates, rising incomes and the value placed on home ownership,” said Phil Karp, senior manager of brokerage services at Owners.com. “Housing inventory remains low and costs are high throughout the country. Savvy buyers should seek modernized brokerage models that not only offer rebates at close, but also provide data to support smarter, data-informed purchase decisions.”

 

Top 20 Markets to Live for Single Women Ranked by Affordability

 

MSA

% Single Women Homeowners[3]

Average Home Value

Median Female Income

Annual Crime Rate per 100,000 [4]

Transit/ Walkability Score[5]

Average Cost of Dinner for Two[6]

1

Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH

15.2%

$158,100

$40,392

974.7

46.5

$62

2

Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS

16.5%

$162,000

$40,098

1086.9

31.5

$61

3

Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK

13.7%

$169,000

$40,484

675

42

$64

4

Albany-Schenectady, NY

18.1%

$189,100

$42,921

380

79

$77

5

Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs, GA

15%

$181,700

$40,472

1379

46

$77

6

Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, WI

16.9%

$190,000

$40,910

1294.5

55

$73

7

Hartford-West Hartford, CT

16.2%

$245,900

$50,795

961.2

66.5

$90

8

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI

15.1%

$226,300

$45,970

992.2

63

$81

9

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

16%

$204,100

$41,311

423.2

26.5

$86

10

Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI

15.9%

$218,900

$43,217

884.3

71.5

$76

11

Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD

16.4%

$233,200

$45,971

1160.1

72.5

$85

12

Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT

16.5%

$333,200

$50,607

835

77.5

$104

13

Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA

15.9%

$347,700

$52,389

1177.9

74

$94

14

Portland-Vancouver-Salem, OR-WA

14.8%

$281,600

$41,660

517.2

57.5

$73

15

Seattle-Tacoma, WA

14.6%

$336,100

$48,889

597.6

65

$88

16

Denver-Aurora, CO

14.5%

$314,700

$45,261

615.9

53.5

$90

17

Sacramento-Roseville, CA

15.2%

$333,500

$45,772

738.6

40

$58

18

New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA

16.3%

$384,300

$50,235

639.3

86.5

$123

19

Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA

13%

$461,500

$40,935

481.1

58.5

$81

20

San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA

13.7%

$658,600

$54,458

363.3

83

$97

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Methodology  

Owners.com identified all MSAs with over one million people. Once these MSAs were identified, any MSA with below-average income for females (<$39,586) were cut. Based on the remaining MSAs, markets with the lowest percentage of female homeowners were eliminated. The final data cut the bottom five markets with the lowest home values, and the top 20 markets were ranked by average home price.

 

Owners.com used six metrics to identify and rank the top 20 markets for single women to live in the U.S., which were then ordered by affordability. The MSAs were measured based on six key metrics, which were weighted and summed, and a score scaling was applied to the data. The weights for each metric are as follows:

About Owners.com®

Owners.com is a tech-enabled real estate brokerage that handles all key aspects of the home buying and selling experience on one platform. It provides a superior experience and savings through right-sized commission structures, smart digital tools and personalized service from local agents. It’s this formula that can save consumers thousands at closing. For more information or to contact a local Owners.com real estate agent, visit Owners.com or follow them on facebook.com/ownerscom and twitter.com/ownersdotcom.

About Altisource®

Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (NASDAQ: ASPS) is an integrated service provider and marketplace for the real estate and mortgage industries. Combining operational excellence with a suite of innovative services and technologies, Altisource helps solve the demands of the ever-changing market. Additional information is available at altisource.com.

 

[1] “First-time Buyers, Single Women Gain Traction in NAR’s 2016 Buyer and Seller Survey,” National Association of Realtors, https://www.nar.realtor/news-releases/2016/10/first-time-buyers-single-women-gain-traction-in-nar-s-2016-buyer-and-seller-survey

[2] Defined comparing the average cost of a home to the buyer’s average income

[3] Percent of single women homeowners, average home value and average female income based on the United States Census Bureau American Community Survey, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/

[4] Violent crime data from the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, https://www.ucrdatatool.gov/

[5] Walkability and transit data from Walk Score, https://www.walkscore.com/

[6] Average cost of dinner for two was calculated by identifying the average cost for two people of an Italian meal with appetizers, wine and dessert by each MSA from https://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living