These NY cities are best for first-time homebuyers in 2026

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NEW YORK - Buying a first home is a milestone for many Americans, but it can also be expensive, difficult and something you will likely do only a handful of times.

This means choosing where to buy your first home can also be a challenge.

Realtor.com identified the 10 best markets for first-time homebuyers in 2026, analyzing affordability, availability and amenities. The real estate company also looked at the economic health of the surrounding area and the strength of the local housing market.

Despite New York’s reputation as one of the most expensive states to buy a home, two New York cities made the list.

Top cities for first-time homebuyers

By the numbers:

Realtor.com scored more than 10,000 Census-designated places that were located within the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country and chose the highest-ranking 10 that had at least 500 active for-sale listings in the past 12 months. 

Based on their criteria, the company found that Rochester, New York was the top city for first-time homebuyers in 2026.

This was followed by Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Granite City, Illinois and Birmingham, Alabama. 

Top 10 cities for first time home-time homebuyers in 2026

1. Rochester, NY
2. Harrisburg, PA
3. Granite City, IL
4. Birmingham, AL
5. North Little Rock, AR
6. Syracuse, NY
7. Baltimore, MD
8. St. Louis Park, MN
9. Pittsburgh, PA
10. Garfield Heights, OH

Go East, new homebuyer

Dig deeper:

This year, Rochester and Harrisburg flip-flopped first and second place, while North Little Rock, Arkansas moved from seventh last year to sixth this year, and Baltimore ticked up from eighth to seventh. 

Three Florida markets featured last year fell out of the top 10 for 2026, primarily due to softer price and home sale projections for their metros. 

What they're saying:

"It’s a commonly held belief that to find an affordable home, first-time buyers must search the suburbs and outlying areas of a metropolitan area. Our list of the top markets proves this not to be true, with six of the 10 highlighted places representing the main city proper of its metro," Realtor.com wrote. 

"Our rankings take into account the availability of shopping, day care, restaurants, grocery stores, and nightlife, which are all more heavily concentrated in the flagship cities of most metros than they are in the suburban portions. Shorter commute times are also an advantage of buying in the central city, where first-time homebuyers are most likely to work." 

The data’s top 10 markets for first-time homebuyers were also all located in the eastern half of the country. Meanwhile, the West was absent from the Top 10 list for the second year in a row. Home prices in the West were higher without proportionately higher incomes.

In addition, each of the 10 featured markets has a median listing price below the national median and below the median for its metropolitan area. This ranged from Pittsburgh proper, whose median price was just $1,000 below the median for the Pittsburgh metro, to Granite City, which was priced almost 60% lower than the St. Louis metro area as a whole. 

Previous studies rank top cities for first-time homebuyers

Big picture view:

Last year, WalletHub and SmartAsset ranked the top cities for first-time homebuyers.

For WalletHub’s ranking, cities in Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin were the stand-outs when it came to the best places for first-time home buyers.

RELATED: Comparing the best cities for first-time home buyers in 2025

For SmartAssets ranking, its top 10 best cities for first-time home buyers was a mixed bag, with McAllen, Texas; Lawton, Ohio; Killeen, Texas adn Warner Robins, Georgia leading the rankings.