The recent rise in home prices means many new homeowners struggle just to make their monthly mortgage payment. In such challenging circumstances, high homeowners association fees can be an especially painful extra blow to your budget.
Fortunately, there are some metro areas of the U.S. where HOA fees are rare.
Recently, Realtor.com looked at for-sale listings from 2023 and 2024 and focused on those that had a listed HOA fee greater than zero dollars to determine where these associations are most common. It also computed the median HOA fee for an area, omitting properties without an HOA fee from that calculation.
Overall, 40.5% of for-sale listings nationwide had a nonzero HOA fee listed, an increase from 39.2% in the previous year. The median fee was $125 a month, up $15 from the year before.
Based on its findings, Realtor.com says these are the places where HOA fees are rare today — and the places where they are widespread.
Metros where HOA fees are least common
If you are looking for low — or even nonexistent — HOA fees, consider the following places:
- Clovis, NM: 0% share of listings with an HOA/no median monthly HOA dues
- Elmira, NY: 0.0%/no median monthly HOA dues
- Eureka-Arcata, CA: 0.0%/no median monthly HOA dues
- Owensboro, KY: 0.1%/$158
- Corning, NY: 0.1%/$10
- Albertville, AL: 0.2%/$150
- Gadsden, AL: 0.2%/$40
- Gillette, WY: 0.2%/$267
- Charleston-North Charleston, SC: 0.2%/$61
- Hutchinson, KS: 0.3%/$21
Metros where HOA fees are most common
If you want to avoid HOA fees, you might consider steering clear of these cities and towns that had the highest percentage of listings that included homeowners association dues:
- Edwards, CO: 89.9%/$525 median monthly HOA dues
- Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC-NC: 84.8%/$138
- Heber, UT: 83.3%/$300
- Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL: 79.7%/$78
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL: 78.4% $164
- Boise City, ID: 77.6%/$54
- Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV: 77.1%/$118
- Jackson, WY-ID: 77.0%/$250
- Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX: 76.8%/$67
- North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL: 76.0%/$310
How to lower your home costs
Homeowners association fees aren’t the only additional costs that today’s homeowners face. The cost of insuring a property has soared in recent years.
If home insurance costs have you tossing and turning at night, Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson can offer some tips for making coverage more affordable. You will find his insights in “Homeowners Insurance Costs Are Soaring: 5 Ways to Fight Back.”
If you are stuck with high HOA fees, perhaps the best you can do is avoid making a bad situation worse. Steering clear of “4 Common Homeowner Association Violations” can help ensure you won’t have to pay fines or other fees for violating your HOA’s rules.
Finally, if you are moving into a home and dealing with a homeowners association for the first time, check out “Everything You Need to Know About Homeowners Associations.”
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