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“Buyers looking for markets with a combination of affordable housing and a good job climate will find those mostly in the middle of the country, in places such as Columbus, OH; Oklahoma City; Omaha; Des Moines; and Minneapolis, all of which have counties where 20% or less of the median income is needed to buy a median-priced home and where unemployment rates are 5% or lower,” says Blomquist.

Blomquist tells GlobeSt.com, “Unemployment and affordability are two discrete factors that prospective buyers and investors should consider in concert as good barometers of the health of the housing market in any given region. These two factors don't seem to necessarily directly impact each other. There are many affordable markets with high unemployment rates, and many with low unemployment rates. Conversely, there are many unaffordable markets with low unemployment rates, and many with high unemployment rates.”

He adds that good affordability alone does not qualify a market as a good place to buy, and low unemployment rates alone do not qualify a market as a good place to buy or invest, but markets where these two factors are together provide a much better portrait of a market's health. “Markets that are both affordable and have low unemployment are prime places to look to buy or invest. Most of these markets are in the Midwest.”

There were 831 counties in the study with a combined population of 44 million with an average historical income-to-price affordability percentage of 15% or less. Counties in this consistently affordable category included Wayne County, MLI; Marion County, IN; Monroe County, NY; Baltimore City, MD; and Montgomery County, OH.

The report also looked at markets with the favorable combination of low income-to-price affordability percentages and low unemployment rates. Counties in this affordable-with-jobs markets category included Franklin County, OH; Oklahoma County, OK; Tulsa County, OK; Summit County, OH; Douglas County, NE; Greenville County, SC; and Polk County, IA.