Americans are on the move, spurred on by remote work policies and a pandemic-era desire to live life more fully. They want more room, a better quality of life and if possible, affordable housing costs. Investors, too, are targeting such features as they push into the single-family rental housing market. The recently-released Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index identifies markets that it believes will be good areas in which to purchase a home for homeowners and investors alike. The index uses a slate of housing market, economic vitality, and quality of life metrics to surface emerging housing markets–areas that are expected to see home price growth and that offer attractive lifestyle amenities. This is the third iteration of the index and its creators are beginning to track trends now that it has earlier data as reference points. For instance, like last quarter, the emerging housing markets index is dominated by smaller markets, but more larger markets topped the list this quarter. Interestingly, housing is pricier than average in these markets, but other costs of living are lower and average wages are slightly higher. The estimated property tax rate is also slightly lower, averaging 0.89% compared with 1.12%. To see which cities fared the best in the index, visit our slideshow above.