WalletHub has released its 2025 report on the best real estate markets in the nation, revealing which Florida city is top ranked.
According to the study, the housing market has been much more balanced than in prior years, with home values having risen by around 0.3% on average.
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“Current home prices are extremely important, but there’s much more that you need to look at when determining the health of a city’s real estate market...” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “The best cities may not always be the cheapest, but they offer excellent housing options and long-term stability.”
To determine the ranking, the study looks at factors like days that homes were on the market, home value forecasts, vacancy rates, housing affordability, and more.
Overall, the top-ranked city in the country turned out to be McKinney, Texas.
“McKinney, TX, has the best real estate market in the U.S., in large part because of its recent growth. McKinney has the second-highest share of houses that were built between 2010 and 2023, at roughly 38%, which means that new buyers have a lot of options for houses that may not need major maintenance for a while. There are also plenty more new housing options coming, as McKinney has the third-highest number of building permits per capita.
While McKinney isn’t necessarily the cheapest city to move to, it’s also far from the most expensive. The median home price in McKinney is around 365% of the median income, which is the 74th-cheapest out of the 300 cities in our study. In addition, it ranks among the 40 least expensive cities for maintenance and telephone, and energy costs.
To top things off, McKinney has a good job market to go along with its healthy real estate market. It has the 11th-highest job growth rate in the nation, at nearly 21% annually."
WalletHub, "Best Real Estate Markets (2025)"
But in Florida, the best real estate market was revealed to be Port St. Lucie, which came in at No. 14 nationwide.
While Port St. Lucie performed well in terms of its real estate market alone, it actually managed to top the list when it came to affordability and its economic environment.
Some other notable mentions from the Sunshine State included in this year’s study were as follows:
- Miami Beach — Scored the highest number of median days on the market nationwide
- Miami Gardens — Came in No. 2 for median home-price appreciation
- Palm Bay — Tied for the highest foreclosure rate and mortgage delinquency rate among all cities in the ranking
- Tampa — Was ranked the best real estate market in Florida for large cities, specifically
- Davie — Was ranked the best real estate market in Florida for small cities, specifically
Meanwhile, the rest of the Florida cities included on the list placed as follows:
| Rank | City | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Port St. Lucie | 66.25 |
| 37 | Tampa | 61.22 |
| 48 | Miami | 60.21 |
| 60 | Orlando | 59.16 |
| 69 | Davie | 58.49 |
| 73 | Hialeah | 58.18 |
| 96 | St. Petersburg | 56.96 |
| 119 | Palm Bay | 55.33 |
| 134 | Miami Gardens | 54.72 |
| 142 | Gainesville | 54.37 |
| 154 | Tallahassee | 53.49 |
| 156 | Lakeland | 53.31 |
| 158 | Jacksonville | 53.22 |
| 164 | Miramar | 53.10 |
| 199 | Plantation | 51.39 |
| 202 | Pembroke Pines | 51.20 |
| 207 | Cape Coral | 50.90 |
| 215 | Sunrise | 50.45 |
| 217 | Boca Raton | 50.39 |
| 223 | West Palm Beach | 50.04 |
| 228 | Clearwater | 49.59 |
| 244 | Coral Springs | 48.53 |
| 250 | Pompano Beach | 47.92 |
| 267 | Ft. Lauderdale | 46.34 |
| 280 | Hollywood | 44.38 |
| 291 | Miami Beach | 39.17 |