BUFFALO TOPS FORBES LIST OF AMERICA'S 21 MOST LOW-COST CITIES

It's not often that Buffalo, New York state's 'Queen City', claims the top spot on a national scale.

But it has been ranked as the most affordable city in America, according to Forbes, which used data that included income, housing prices and everyday expenses to put together a top 21.

The cost of house prices was the most crucial in the study, with the magazine using an index from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo to measure how far residents' money could go toward buying a place to live.

New York City and Honolulu were found to be the most overpriced cities in the country.

'With a median family income of $63,500 and a median home sales price of $100,000, home ownership (in Buffalo) is attainable for 88.5 percent of the local population,' Forbes writer Erin Carlyle noted.

Median indicates half of the homes sold for more, and half sold for less than that amount.

The same applies to income: Half earned more than that amount, and half earned less.

After Buffalo, rounding out the top five were Memphis, Cincinnati, Dayton and Knoxville.

Forbes defined city as having a population greater than 600,000, so anywhere less than that was not looked at for the list.

The south was well-represented on the list, with six southern cities making the cut

However Forbes said that the Midwest dominates when it comes to affordability, with 11 metro areas making the list, including five in the state of Ohio alone: Cincinnati (No. 3), Dayton (No. 4), Akron (No. 6), Toledo (No. 11), and Columbus (No. 20).

Michigan landed three cities on the ranks: Grand Rapids, Detroit, and Warren.

The northeast offers a few highly affordable cities — including the number one winner, Buffalo, N.Y.

Interestingly, the west has no representatives on the list at all: while California’s cities are obviously relatively expensive, it would have been reasonable to expect somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico at least to make the cut.

1. Buffalo, New York

2. Memphis, Tennessee

3. Cincinnati, Ohio

4. Dayton, Ohio

5. Knoxville, Tennessee

6. Akron, Ohio

7. Grand Rapids, Michigan

8. Louisville, Kentucky

9. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

10. Warren, Michigan

11. Toledo, Ohio

12. Detroit, Michigan

13. Birmingham, Alabama

14. St. Louis, Missouri

15. Virginia Beach, Virginia

16. Jacksonville, Florida

17. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

18. Tulsa, Oklahoma

19. Tampa, Florida

20. Syracuse, New York

21. Columbus, Ohio

Reference:dailymail