 TITLE: What Are the Most Affordable States to Live In? CONTENT: 10 Cheapest States to Live in America\n-------------------------------------\nThe most affordable states to live in are concentrated in the South and the Midwest, while those with the highest cost of living are located on the coasts.\n### 1\\. Mississippi\nMississippi earned the top affordability spot from the Council for Community and Economic Research. Its average housing costs are the lowest of any state, and the only states with lower transportation costs on average are Tennessee and Virginia. Its median household income, however, is the lowest on the list, at $45,792.\n### 2\\. Kansas\nNext-most affordable is Kansas, with the third-lowest average housing costs in the country (behind Mississippi and Alabama). Kansas' median household income is almost $20,000 more per year than Mississippi's, and its median home value is nearly $35,000 more.\n### 3\\. Oklahoma\nMedian rent in Oklahoma is lower than in Kansas or Mississippi; in fact, Arkansas is the only state on this list with a lower median rent. Compared with Kansas, however, Oklahoma's median home value is nearly $30,000 less.\n### 4\\. Alabama\nAlabama's median household income is slightly lower than Oklahoma's—$51,734 compared with $54,449 per year—but both its median home value and median rent are higher.\n### 5\\. Tennessee\nTennessee is one of two states on the list, along with Georgia, whose median home values are over $200,000. It's also one of three states, alongside Georgie and Indiana, with median rent above $1,000 per month.\n### 6\\. Arkansas\nArkansas has the lowest median rent and the second-lowest median home value on the list, just above Mississippi.\n### 7\\. Georgia\nGeorgia has the highest median home value and outstanding mortgage balance of the states in the top 10, but it has the median household income to match. Georgians earn $61,980 per year at the median, the most on the list.\n### 8\\. Indiana\nMedian household income in Indiana is about the same as the next-most-affordable state on the list, Missouri, but the average mortgage balance is about $20,000 less than in Missouri.\n### 9\\. Missouri\nRenters in Missouri benefit from lower median rent than many states on our list; only Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas have less expensive rental costs.\n### 10\\. Iowa\nIowans have the highest average FICO® Score on our list, at 726—higher than the national average of 711 in 2020. The median household income is the third-highest in the top 10, after Kansas and Georgia. END