Website www.gobankingrates.com typically puts out more than a dozen financial surveys and studies each month. Its latest lists claims to list the “20 gorgeous beach towns you can afford to live in.” Corpus Christi comes in at number 8.
“Texas cities really come up a lot in our studies,” lead researcher for the study, Andrew DePietro, said. “Corpus Christi does often. One of its main things is that it has a good cost of living.”
Cost of living is one of the three criteria the website put almost 1,000 cities that have saltwater coastlines up against. They also compared a city’s median listing price for homes and the median rental rates to the national averages. Corpus Christi’s numbers fell well below those averages, boosting the city’s ranking.
“Texas has a lot of availability in homes,” DePietro said. “It’s got a great housing market. It’s able to have appeal while keeping prices down, so that’s a big reason why Corpus Christi was on [the top 20 list].”
At least one Corpus Christi realtor sees merit in the study.
“There are affordable homes to choose from,” Tiffany Hill of Safe Harbor Real Estate said. “You do have some deficits, or some particular needs at some price points, so there are creative options for making homes affordable in this area. But, for the most part there’s a lot here that makes it worth living here.”
Corpus Christi homeowner Omar Allende couldn’t agree more. He says he faced a little difficulty when buying his home, but in the end it was worth it.
“So happy to be here,” Allende said. “I’m proud of living in Corpus Christi, and it’s enjoyable.”
