The Spy was alerted to a rather odd study over the weekend by the mortgage company Lending Tree. That survey placed Easton as the 9th in the country for expensive homes.
While most of these communities were located west of the Mississippi, only Easton and Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard made the cut on the East Coast, which makes us slightly dubious of the results. Nonetheless, here is the top ten:
10 Towns in America With the Most Expensive Home Prices
Vineyard Haven, MA
Breckenridge, CO
Jackson, WY
Steamboat Springs, CO
Hailey, ID
Gardnerville Ranchos, NV
Hood River, OR
Juneau, AK
Easton, MD
Los Alamos, NM
The data used in this study comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey (five-year estimates). For this analysis, LendingTree used micropolitan-level data for areas with a population of between 10,000 and 50,000 to approximate town-level data.
The home value-to-income ratio was calculated for each town and metro by dividing an area’s median home value by its median household income. The larger the ratio, the more expensive homes are relative to an area’s median income.
Read the full report here.
Steve Shimko says
I would have to see some more details about their methodology. But this result could be a bit misleading. The town of Easton is different from the Easton zip code, 21601. The zip code Easton includes many multi-million dollar waterfront estates along the Miles, the southern shore of the Wye River, and along the Tred Avon, which would skew the average home price higher than a measure such as the median home price.
Glenn C Baker says
With a population of 37,168 they can only be talking about Talbot County not Easton.
With many second homes here their owner’s income is not in the total creating a misleading medium income.
The same thing happens at the state level when calculating school dollar support from the state to the county!
Kenneth Chafey says
Easton is not in the top 10 most expensive homes in the United States. Using their home value-to-income ratio to make this determination simply shows how low the income is in the area compared with other areas, not how expensive the homes are.
Danna Murphy Murden says
Steve Shimko has the answer. I have a friend who lives on Royal Oak Rd one of the first few houses close to the St.Michaels Rd. and I addressed my mail to him Royal Oak, Md all of sudden it is returned to me. Then the Royal Oak postmaster wrote me a note with his new address which was an Easton address. Later volunteering with a couple of organizations I was dumbfounded to find out all that Easton Zip Code encompasses. So am not one bit surprised by the study.
Al DiCenso says
This makes no sense. The “ratio” is not a measure of “expensive homes” as it pretends to be. Get real! Steve Shimko and Glenn Baker got it right.
Jody Coursey says
This doesn’t surprise me in the least. Average rent in the TOWN OF EASTON, not outlying areas is $1800-$2500. I live in Corbin and rent runs about that much for a cookie cutter starter home.