Top 25 Cities Where You Can Live Large on Less Than $70k

[Guest Nicole]

We’ve all heard the real estate mantra: location, location, location. As far as price is concerned, where a house is located is typically more important than the actual features of the home. That’s why you can buy a sprawling six-bedroom, six-bath house for less than $250,000 in some markets and pay close to $1 million for a tiny one-bedroom condo in New York City.

Beyond real estate values, location also affects the overall cost of living – what you pay not just for housing, but also for food, transportation, healthcare and other everyday expenses. Salaries, of course, play an important role: A smaller salary goes further in places with a lower cost of living, while a large salary might be barely enough to get by on in an expensive city. (See also: 5 U.S. Cities with High Paychecks and a Low Cost of Living).

Top 25 Cities Where You Can Live Large on $70K a Year

With this in mind, job-hunting site Glassdoor recently came up with a cost-of-living ratio – calculated by taking a city’s median base salary and dividing it by its median home value – to find cities in the U.S. where your pay will go the furthest. Here it is: a countdown of the top 25 cities where you can live like a king or queen on less than $70K a year, along with each city’s cost of living ratio (a higher ratio number is better), median base salary, median home value and number of open jobs.

25. Raleigh, N.C.

Cost-of-living ratio: 30%

Median base salary: $62,000

Median home value: $209,400

Number of open jobs: 22,339

24. Minneapolis-St. Paul

Cost-of-living ratio: 30%

Median base salary: $65,000

Median home value: $219,400

Number of open jobs: 64,026

Read more: Top 25 Cities Where You Can Live Large on Less Than $70k | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/010417/top-25-cities-where-you-can-live-large-less-70k.asp#ixzz4jbp6fMBh Follow us: Investopedia on Facebook