Santa Rosa is among the worst cities in the US for first-time homebuyers, WalletHub reports

Santa Rosa is one of the worst U.S. cities for new homebuyers, according to a new report by financial website WalletHub.

Sonoma County’s largest city ranked 207 out of 300 cities on WalletHub’s July 18 list of "2023’s Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers.“ The city ranked between Portland, Oregon, and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Florida dominated the list of best cities, with Palm Bay, Cape Coral, Tampa, Port St. Lucie and Orlando taking the top five spots, respectively.

To put together the ranking, WalletHub compared data related to affordability, the real estate market and quality of life in 300 cities of varying sizes.

Affordability data included stats on housing cost per square foot, real estate tax rates and cost of living. Real estate market data included the number of active listings, listing agents and mortgage lenders per capita, as well as home-ownership rate for millennials and foreclosure rates. Quality of life data included crime rates, school system rankings, and job market rankings.

Santa Rosa’s lowest ranking was in the affordability category, at 216 out of 300. The city ranked best in the quality of life category, coming in at 142 out of 300, and it ranked 169 in the real estate market category.

When ranking by city size, Santa Rosa did even worse, coming in at number 77 out of 99 mid-size cities.

According to WalletHub, Sacramento-area city Roseville was the best city in California for first-time homebuyers, ranking 44 out of 300. Other California cities that ranked high on the list included Visalia (61), Clovis (77), Victorville (98), Vacaville (122) and Fresno (150).

California cities that ranked in the lower half of WalletHub’s list but ahead of Santa Rosa included Fairfield (169), Chico (176), Bakersfield (180), Modesto (197) and Rialto (202).

California and Bay Area cities took up all but one spot of the list’s worst 15 cities for first-time homebuyers, including Richmond (287), Daly City (291), San Mateo (293), Oakland (294), San Francisco (295) and Berkeley, which came in dead last at 300.

For more information, go to wallethub.com.

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