Buy Dallas

Median home price: $163,100

Median rent : $1,030

Breakeven time: 2.1 years

Texas' largest metro area is blessed with plenty of open land to build on and a local government policy that's friendly to development, which has helped keep housing here extremely affordable.
The median home price in the Dallas metro area is 20% below that of the nation and, as a result, it takes only a couple years of ownership for buyers to break even on their investments, according to Zillow. Meanwhile, demand from a steady flow of new residents has pushed rents slightly higher than the average city.
The wealthy suburb of Westover Hills, west of Ft. Worth, boasts some of the most expensive home prices compared with rental costs. The breakeven time there is nearly 11 years. But in nearly every other community in the metro area, the breakeven time is less than three years.