As Fort Worth rapidly grows and the local housing market struggles to find its footing, a new WalletHub analysis has revealed it is the 27th best large U.S. city for first-time homebuyers, and the No. 2 best big city in Texas.

WalletHub’s study ranked 300 U.S. cities across 22 metrics based on affordability, quality of life, and the status of each city’s real estate market, including factors like active listings per capita, homeownership rates for millennials, and more. Cities were ranked overall and based on population size: Large cities with more than 300,000 residents; midsize cities with populations between 150,000-300,000 people; and small cities with fewer than 150,000 people.

Palm Bay, Florida ranked as the No. 1 best housing market for first-time homebuyers regardless of city size. Meanwhile, the report determined Tampa is the best large city for first-time buyers.

Fort Worth earned a favorable No. 28 rank in the report’s “real estate market” category, though it didn’t earn quite such stellar rankings in the quality of life (No. 164) or affordability (No. 228) categories.

The median sale price for a Fort Worth home came out to $319,667 at the end of May, according to the Zillow Home Value Index, and average home values are 3 percent lower than they were this time last year.

In the overall rankings — regardless of city size — Fort Worth landed as the 143rd best place for first-time homebuyers out of all 300 U.S. cities. Six Dallas-Fort Worth cities ranked higher than Cowtown in the overall list, including: McKinney (No. 73), Frisco (No. 98), Grand Prairie (No. 118), Denton (No. 125), Allen (No. 130), and Plano (No. 132).

According to the National Association of Realtors, only 24 percent of all home purchases in the nation were made by first-time buyers in 2024, down from 32 percent in 2023.

“Buying a home for the first time is a very stressful and difficult process, especially when housing prices are through the roof and interest rates have risen sharply in the past few years,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “The best cities for first-time home buyers not only are affordable both in terms of buying a house and living there afterward, but they also have a lot of housing choices as well as low crime rates and good schools.”

The remaining two biggest Metroplex-area cities, Arlington (No. 38) and Dallas (No. 51), appeared much lower than Fort Worth in the report’s ranking of the best large cities for first-time homebuyers.

In the lists of best midsize cities for first-time homebuyers, six DFW neighbors landed on the list out of 99 U.S. cities:

  • No. 27 – McKinney
  • No. 37 – Frisco
  • No. 43 – Grand Prairie
  • No. 47 – Plano
  • No. 68 – Garland
  • No. 77 – Irving

Five more DFW neighbors appeared in WalletHub’s ranking of the best small cities for first-time buyers, out of 133 total cities:

  • No. 57 – Denton
  • No. 59 – Allen
  • No. 68 – Carrollton
  • No. 74 – Richardson
  • No. 86 – Mesquite