The good news for Santa Clara homeowners and prospective homeowners, is that the City ranks 33rd in a nationwide listing of the top 100 Best Places To Buy a Forever Home in 2017. One California city–Mountain View–made it to the top ten.
The ranking, determined by an analysis of 509 U.S. cities, is based on six variously-weighted criteria adding up to 100 percent: home affordability (10 percent), population growth (10 percent), unemployment (10 percent), home value recession recovery (30 percent), the crime rate (10 percent) and educational attainment (30 percent).
In Santa Clara, home affordability is 20.1, based on the monthly home owner cost as a percentage of household income. Home values have increased 36 percent between 2009 and 2015. Population has grown 7 percent between 2010 and 2015.
Santa Clara’s unemployment rate, based on 2015 figures, is 4.1 percent. The crime rate is 30.2 crimes per 1,000 residents. Of those 25 and older, 91.4 percent have a high school education and 55.3 percent have a college education.
A majority of the top 50 cities on the list of the 2017 Best Places To Buy a Forever Home are in the South and Southwest. The states with the most cities on the list are Texas (17 cities) and California (13 cities).
Other California cities listed with their ranking: Irvine (15), Pleasanton (16), Fremont (18), Sunnyvale (19), Livermore (21), Yorba Linda (38), Carlsbad (39), Milpitas (42), Alameda (43), San Mateo (49) and Union City (51).
The list of 2017 Best Places To Buy a Forever Home was compiled by GoodCall, a consumer-focused education and personal finance website launched in Fort Mill, South Carolina, in April 2015. For more information, visit www.goodcall.com.