McKinney has been ranked the second-best midsize real estate market in the country by WalletHub, scoring 69.83 out of 100. Frisco took first at 70.72, a gap of less than a point.
The gap in price is not nearly so narrow. McKinney's median home sale price sits around $479,000. Frisco's is roughly $675,000. McKinney scored within a point of the national leader while costing about $196,000 less.
Where affordability shows up
WalletHub found McKinney's median home price to be about 380 percent of its median household income, the 73rd most affordable ratio among the 300 cities studied. That is a better position than most fast-growing suburbs manage.
The study also placed McKinney among the 35 least expensive cities for home maintenance, energy and telephone costs, which are the recurring expenses that determine whether a household can comfortably stay in a house after buying it.
How the ranking is built
WalletHub compared 300 U.S. cities on 17 metrics grouped into two dimensions. The housing market itself carries 80 of the 100 points, covering things like the Zillow-based home value forecast, median days on the market and the share of mortgages that are seriously underwater. Affordability and the local economic environment account for the other 20.
That weighting matters when reading the result. A high placement describes a market that looks healthy and is expected to hold its value. It is not a finding that homes are cheap.
Cities are graded within population brackets: large is above 300,000 residents, midsize is 150,000 to 300,000, and small is under 150,000.
