The 10 cheapest states to buy a home in right now

Shutterstock

Not every housing market is outrageously expensive.

• SmartAsset, a financial technology company, just released a study revealing the cheapest states to buy a home in.
• All of the states in the top 10 are located in the South or the Midwest.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Buying a home is a big purchase.

But with the cost of living on the rise across the US, tracking down affordable real estate can be a challenge. Fortunately, not every state's housing market is as out of reach as, say, California's, where major markets show trends of competitive prices and low inventory.

Read more: The 50 best suburbs in America, ranked

A recent study by SmartAsset, a financial technology company, revealed the cheapest states to buy a home in right now. And, given that more and more millennials are heading to the south, it may come as no surprise that all of the states that made the top 10 are located in the south or the midwest.

To get the final ranking, SmartAsset analyzed each state on the following criteria: average effective property tax rate, median listing price, median listing price per square foot, median home value for the bottom one-third of homes, and average closing costs. After weighing each metric equally, SmartAsset found the average ranking for each state. You can read a full breakdown of the methodology here. Note that due to insufficient data, Delaware and Louisiana were not included in this study.

Keeping reading to see a list of the top 10 cheapest states to buy a home right now.