County rankings · computed from the data, updated daily
Warm counties you can still afford: 65°F average and a median home under $350K
Dougherty County, Georgia is the cheapest of the 117 US counties with 50,000 or more people that average 65°F or warmer: median home $127K, average temperature 67°F (Zillow ZHVI 2024; NOAA Climate Normals).
Everyone wants the weather. Fewer people check what the weather costs, in home prices and in what FEMA thinks will happen to the house. This list takes counties with an annual average of 65°F or more and a median home under $350,000, ranks them by price, and puts the FEMA natural-hazard score right next to it.
A 99 on that score means the county sits in the top percentile of expected disaster losses in the country. Plenty of warm, cheap counties do.
25 of 117 qualifying counties shown. Click a county for its page.
| # | County | Avg temp °F | Median home | FEMA risk /100 | Violent crime /1K | People |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dougherty, GA | 67 | $127K | 80 | 4.5 | 85K |
| 2 | Lauderdale, MS | 66 | $131K | 86 | 3.9 | 73K |
| 3 | St. Landry Parish, LA | 69 | $134K | 92 | 4.8 | 83K |
| 4 | Hinds, MS | 68 | $135K | 93 | 3.8 | 227K |
| 5 | Iberia Parish, LA | 70 | $144K | 94 | 4.4 | 70K |
| 6 | Starr, TX | 77 | $146K | 83 | 5.2 | 66K |
| 7 | Caddo Parish, LA | 68 | $155K | 90 | 4.2 | 236K |
| 8 | Acadia Parish, LA | 70 | $157K | 91 | 4.7 | 58K |
| 9 | Jones, MS | 66 | $158K | 87 | 4.2 | 67K |
| 10 | Vermilion Parish, LA | 70 | $161K | 90 | 4.3 | 57K |
| 11 | Montgomery, AL | 66 | $166K | 86 | 4.1 | 228K |
| 12 | Wichita, TX | 65 | $172K | 82 | 4.0 | 130K |
| 13 | Rapides Parish, LA | 68 | $173K | 83 | 4.1 | 130K |
| 14 | Jefferson, TX | 71 | $175K | 98 | 4.2 | 255K |
| 15 | St. Martin Parish, LA | 70 | $176K | 91 | 4.5 | 52K |
| 16 | Ouachita Parish, LA | 67 | $182K | 86 | 4.2 | 160K |
| 17 | Terrebonne Parish, LA | 71 | $183K | 96 | 4.4 | 109K |
| 18 | Polk, TX | 69 | $184K | 82 | 4.2 | 51K |
| 19 | Coffee, AL | 67 | $185K | 89 | 4.3 | 54K |
| 20 | Muscogee, GA | 65 | $188K | 69 | 4.3 | 205K |
| 21 | Forrest, MS | 68 | $188K | 87 | 3.7 | 78K |
| 22 | Orange, TX | 70 | $189K | 97 | 4.0 | 85K |
| 23 | Lafourche Parish, LA | 71 | $191K | 94 | 4.5 | 97K |
| 24 | Hidalgo, TX | 77 | $194K | 99 | 4.6 | 873K |
| 25 | Bowie, TX | 66 | $195K | 82 | 4.0 | 93K |
Sources: Zillow ZHVI 2024 · NOAA Climate Normals · FEMA National Risk Index 2023 (0–100, all hazards) · County Health Rankings 2024. Population: Census 2023 estimates. Recomputed from the county database every day.
What the list shows
The 25 counties come from 5 states. Louisiana appears most often, with 10 of the 25. Dougherty, GA leads at $127K; number 25, Bowie, TX, sits at $195K, a gap of $68K from top to bottom of the table.
Across all 978 counties over the 50,000-person floor, the median value of the ranking column (Median Home Value) is $316K. Every county on this list is below that middle.
On housing, of the 25 with a Zillow figure, 25 have a median home under $200K and 0 are at $500K or more. The cheapest is Dougherty, GA at $127K; the most expensive is Bowie, TX at $195K.
How we rank
Every county with 50,000 or more residents in the Census 2023 estimate is eligible, provided it has Average Temp of at least 65°F and Median Home Value of at most $350K. Counties are ranked by Median Home Value, lowest first, from Zillow ZHVI 2024. A county missing any figure in the table is left out rather than scored as zero, which is why 978 of the 3,222 places in the county database qualify and 117 meet the requirements. Connecticut’s planning regions are excluded because they are not counties. The table is recomputed from the database every day, so figures here can move as sources update.
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