Thanks to affordability, desirability, new construction and economic viability, Frisco is the No. 1 real estate market in the United States in 2026, according to a new report from WalletHub. McKinney, meanwhile, ranked No. 2.

The finance site ranked 300 cities based on two main metrics: the real estate market (including factors like home value forecasts, home-price appreciation, days on market, foreclosure rates and building permit activity) and affordability and the overall economic environment (including factors like housing affordability, unemployment rates, underemployment rates and job growth).

Frisco ranked first for affordability and economics and second for real estate. Specific factors that make Frisco such an attractive market include the share of new homes, with nearly 47% built between 2010 and 2024. The city also has the seventh-quickest job growth rate in the U.S., and while it’s not necessarily the most affordable compared to local incomes, its the 11th-cheapest city for phone service and home maintenance/energy costs.

Second-place McKinney is also home to a lot of new construction — about 40% of homes were built post-2010, and the city has the 10th-most building permits per capita. McKinney also closely follows Frisco in metrics like maintenance, utility and energy costs. So while McKinney isn’t the cheapest city in the country — the median priced home there costs about 380% of the area median income — it’s still the 73rd-cheapest city in WalletHub’s study.

“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. “Factors like the cost of living, the potential for the value of homes to increase, the availability of recently built homes and the quality of the city’s job market are all important to consider in conjunction with asking prices and interest rates. The best cities may not always be the cheapest, but they offer excellent housing options and long-term stability.”

Slightly further down the list at No. 5 was Denton, which ranked sixth for its real estate market and 22nd for affordability and economic environment.