Introduction | Forbes: America's Most Affordable Cities | Comcast.net Finance

Forbes started with America's 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and Metropolitan Divisions (MSADs), all with populations of 600,000 residents or more. Forbes ranked them based on four metrics: housing affordability, using the Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) compiled by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo; the cost-of-living index created by Sperling’s Best Places which places the national average at 100; median salaries for residents with a BA degree or higher to see just how far a paycheck actually stretches, using data from Payscale.com; and local unemployment rates collected from Moody's Analytics.

(Photo: Getty Images/George Peters)

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