10 Cheapest Places to Live on the East Coast
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Richard Haddad Managing EditorRichard Haddad is the managing editor of HomeLight.com. He works with an experienced content team that oversees the company’s blog featuring in-depth articles about the home buying and selling process, homeownership news, home care and design tips, and related real estate trends. Previously, he served as an editor and content producer for World Company, Gannett, and Western News & Info, where he also served as news director and director of internet operations.
At HomeLight, our vision is a world where every real estate transaction is simple, certain, and satisfying. Therefore, we promote strict editorial integrity in each of our posts.
If you’re planning to move east, it’s likely you’ve heard stories about the high cost of living on the East Coast. This tag with a capital E for “expensive” has become somewhat of a scarlet letter, labeling an entire region. You may find yourself asking, “What are the cheapest places to live on the East Coast?”
In this post, we’ll provide a list of the most affordable East Coast communities. We’ll also explain what factors impact your cost of living, and share a handy set of tools to help you calculate living expenses as you plan your next move.
Relocating to a New City? Work With a Top Agent.
Packing up and moving can be filled with uncertainties. Finding a trusted real estate agent in your new location can help you settle into a home and neighborhood that best meets your and your family’s needs.
What impacts cost of living on the East Coast?
If you’re planning to relocate to an East Coast city, the big question will be, “Can I afford to live there?” You’ll need to assess the cost of living, or what the market data experts at Statista describe as “the monetary cost of goods and services necessary to maintaining a certain standard of living.”
The cost to live somewhere typically includes the expenses you incur for:
- Housing (rent/mortgage)
- Energy (utilities)
- Food (groceries)
- Transportation (vehicles or transit systems)
- Healthcare (doctors, hospitals, etc.)
However, it extends beyond these basics to cover other aspects, such as:
- Clothing
- Education
- Childcare
- Entertainment
- Lifestyle choices
Ultimately, your standard of living in any East Coast city will largely be influenced by your salary (or income), and your debts. If you’re balancing on a financial tightrope but want to live on the East Coast, let’s take a look at some communities where you might find pockets of affordability.
10 of the cheapest places to live on the East Coast
Our list of the 10 most affordable places to live on the East Coast was derived from a report by GOBankingRates. Their research experts identified these locations by combining data from the following sources:
- U.S. News & World Report’s Best Places to Live in the US in 2024-25
- Zillow average home values
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Sperling’s BestPlaces
Because HomeLight is a real estate solutions company, we’ve ranked each of these cities based on average home values, from lowest to highest. We’ve also included a Sperling’s BestPlaces Cost of Living score for each city.
How does a cost of living score work? Most cost of living (COL) scores or index rankings are standardized with a baseline value of 100. Other locations are then compared against this benchmark. For example, an area with a COL score of 115 would signify that living there is 15% more expensive than the base location, while an index of 85 indicates it’s 15% less expensive.
1. Spartanburg, South Carolina 📍
Average home value: $220,890
Sperling’s cost of living score: 84.8
Cost of living comparison: 15.2% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $36,380
2. Buffalo, New York 📍
Average home value: $223,805
Sperling’s cost of living score: 92.1
Cost of living comparison: 7.9% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $39,240
3. Columbia, South Carolina 📍
Average home value: $228,201
Sperling’s cost of living score: 87.4
Cost of living comparison: 12.6% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $39,240
4. Salisbury, Maryland 📍
Average home value: $252,259
Sperling’s cost of living score: 83.7
Cost of living comparison: 16.3% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $42,480
5. Daytona Beach, Florida 📍
Average home value: $266,067
Sperling’s cost of living score: 94.9
Cost of living comparison: 5.1% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $46,800
6. Springfield, Massachusetts 📍
Average home value: $274,349
Sperling’s cost of living score: 96.2
Cost of living comparison: 3.8% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $46,080
7. Hickory, North Carolina 📍
Average home value: $286,223
Sperling’s cost of living score: 89
Cost of living comparison: 11% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $48,960
8. Savannah, Georgia 📍
Average home value: $317,712
Sperling’s cost of living score: 90.2
Cost of living comparison: 9.8% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $49,680
9. Trenton, New Jersey 📍
Average home value: $323,547
Sperling’s cost of living score: 104.6
Cost of living comparison: 4.6% above national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $48,240
10. Lakeland, Florida 📍
Average home value: $324,320
Sperling’s cost of living score: 91.6
Cost of living comparison: 8.4% below national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $54,000
East Coast runner-up cities for affordable rental housing
Sometimes you need more options, and perhaps you’re primarily focused on rental housing costs. If the cities above aren’t to your liking, or if you want to test drive a community by renting before buying a home, we went back to last year’s GOBankingRates report to build a list of runner-up cities you might want to consider.
| City | Average monthly income | Average 1-bedroom rent |
| 1. Lynchburg, Virginia | $5,664 | $1,216 |
| 2. Roanoke, Virginia | $5,664 | $1,264 |
| 3. Newport News, Virginia | $5,664 | $1,383 |
| 4. Greensboro, North Carolina | $4,940 | 1,401 |
| 5. Richmond, Virginia | $5,664 | $1,498 |
| 6. Hagerstown, Maryland | $5,848 | $1,178 |
| 7. Rome, Georgia | $5,156 | $1,131 |
| 8. Hampton, Virginia | $5,664 | $1,485 |
| 9. Jacksonville, North Carolina | $4,940 | $1,197 |
| 10. Norfolk, Virginia | $5,664 | $1,562 |
Source: GoBankingRates 2023 report (see 7 more affordable East Coast cities)
Three expensive East Coast cities for comparison
1. Miami Beach, Florida 📍
Average home value: $2,596,041
Sperling’s cost of living score: 118.9
Cost of living comparison: 18.9% above national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $92,520
2. Folly Beach, South Carolina 📍
Average home value: $1,352,921
Sperling’s cost of living score: 112
Cost of living comparison: 12% above national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $229,680
3. Sag Harbor, New York 📍
Average home value: $2,008,969
Sperling’s cost of living score: 147.1
Cost of living comparison: 47.1% above national average
Annual income to live comfortably: $332,640
Least and most expensive states: According to Statista’s nationwide cost of living index, the least expensive states are Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Mississippi (the most affordable) holds a COL score of 84.5. The most expensive states are Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and Massachusetts, which have COL scores of 184, 152.2, and 149.7, respectively.
How Much Is Your Home Worth Now?
Home values have rapidly increased in recent years. How much is your current home worth now? Get a ballpark estimate from HomeLight’s free Home Value Estimator.
Try a cost of living calculator
A cost of living calculator can provide you with a preliminary snapshot of how much money you might need to maintain your current standard of living in an East Coast community. These free online tools use cost estimates to provide a comparison based on income and regional costs for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and other necessities in the two locations you select.
Examples of online cost of living calculators include:
Additional wage and budgeting tools
- Living Wage Calculator: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a handy Living Wage Calculator. Just select your desired state and city, and the calculator will estimate the local wage a full-time worker needs to cover the costs of a family’s basic needs.
- Family Budget Calculator: The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) maintains a Family Budget Calculator that measures the income a family needs to attain a modest yet adequate standard of living. You’ll see estimated budgets based on community-specific costs for 10 family types in all counties and metro areas in the country.
You can find other helpful online tools to estimate everything from moving costs to how much of a down payment you’ll need to buy a house. We’ve provided links to some of our favorite resources below.
Free moving cost calculators
- Move.com Moving Cost Calculator
- Consumer Affairs ‘Find a Mover’ tool
- U-HAUL ‘Moving Help Cost’ resource page
Free HomeLight resources for homebuyers
HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell program lets you unlock the equity in your current home so you can move into your new East Coast home now — and sell your old house with peace of mind and on your own timeline. Watch the short video below to learn more.
Free HomeLight resources for home sellers
- Home Value Estimator
- Best Time to Sell Calculator
- Agent Commissions Calculator
- Net Proceeds Calculator
Don’t forget to measure ‘livability’
When you’re looking for a new place to live, the cost of living is a crucial factor, but so is livability. Will you enjoy living there? Does the community fit your lifestyle?
AARP provides a Livability Index Search Page that scores communities and even neighborhoods nationwide for services and amenities that impact your life. You can check your current city score or others where you’d like to live on the East Coast.
The livability index Community Finder tool allows you to filter by location, community size, livability measures, and other features, such as state and local plans to create age-friendly communities.
Partner with a top agent to find your East Coast home
As you plan your move, HomeLight can connect you with a top-performing, trusted real estate agent in the East Coast city where you’d like to live. We analyze over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs.
For the best of both worlds — buying and selling simultaneously — check out HomeLight’s Buy Before You Sell program. It takes the uncertainty out of your next home purchase.
Header Image Source: (Kathleen Culbertson / Unsplash)
- "Cost of living in the U.S.- statistics & facts," Statista, Statista Research Department (February 2024)
- "50 Safest and Most Affordable US Cities To Live In," GoBanking, Caitlyn Moorhead (June 2024)
- "17 Amazing East Coast Cities With Affordable Housing," GoBankingRates, Jordan Rosenfeld (June 2023)
- "How Much Does Moving Help® Cost?," UHaul (2024)
