Where homes are affordable

Residents who live in these 25 growing towns see their incomes go the furthest.

This mature Midwestern city was once a cultural backwater dominated by blue-collar values and bourgeois boosterism. It has morphed into a white-collar city that takes a star turn every four years as home to the first state caucus during the presidential election season.

The housing bubble was just a rumor here in the Iowa state capital. Prices never rose more than a few percent a year. That spared the town from the worst of the bust while keeping prices very affordable.

See complete data and interactive map for Des Moines