• US News & World Report compiled a list of the best places to live in the US in 2025.
• Criteria for the list included affordability of homes, quality of life, and career opportunities.
• Johns Creek, Georgia, tops this year's list, followed by Carmel, Indiana, and Pearland, Texas.

Americans move for all sorts of reasons, whether it's seeking better work-life balance, a more affordable lifestyle, or even a fresh start after a breakup.

Each year, US News & World Report offers a resource to those contemplating such a big change by evaluating 150 American cities on several factors to determine the best places to move.

The publication considers factors including employment opportunities, housing affordability, quality of life, and school rankings.

Johns Creek, Georgia, tops the 2025 list of best places to live for its strong job market and high "desirability" score, a custom index created by US News & World Report to rank factors like weather, accessibility of culture, and average commute times for residents.

The small Atlanta suburb of 81,000 people has been home to stars like Jeff Foxworthy and Usher, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Carmel, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, took second place. The town of just over 103,000 residents previously went viral on TikTok for its massive high school that featured amenities for students like an auto shop, radio station, jewelry-making room, and even a planetarium.

Texas has three cities in the top 10, with Pearland and League City, two suburbs of Houston, and Leander, a suburb of Austin, taking the third, sixth, and eighth spots, respectively.

Here are the 15 best places to live in the US, according to US News & World Report. Residents find plenty to like about these cities, including affordable homes, career opportunities, and relaxed lifestyles.

Sources: Population and income data are from the US Census, median home price from Realtor.com, and median rent from Zillow.

15. Pflugerville, Texas

Population of the metro area: 66,819

Median home price: $395,300

Average monthly rent: $2,195

Median household income: $112,656

Known for: A growing area outside Austin, Pflugerville has more than 56 miles of recreational trails, including those surrounding the 180-acre Lake Pflugerville. The nearby Typhoon Texas Waterpark is also an annual draw for locals and visitors alike.

14. Flower Mound, Texas

Population of the metro area: 79,990

Median home price: $645,600

Average monthly rent: $2,890

Median household income: $157,737

Known for: Named for a local hill covered in wildflowers, the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound is known for its small-town charm just outside the big city. The area boasts a strong public school system and a robust calendar of community events, including a summer concert series.

13. Ellicott City, Maryland

Population of the metro area: 75,947 (as of 2020)

Median home price: $769,000

Average monthly rent: $2,812

Median household income: $157,891

Known for: Under 30 minutes from the bustle of Baltimore sits quaint Ellicott City. Several buildings from the 19th century remain, and there are museums dedicated to everything from turn-of-the-century firefighting to the country's oldest surviving railroad station.

12. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Population of the metro area: 122,756

Median home price: $355,000

Average monthly rent: $1,750

Median household income: $85,220

Known for: One of Tulsa's suburbs, Broken Arrow has long connections to the Muscogee people, who settled in the area after the US government forced them to move from Alabama along the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. Today, its downtown has boutiques, galleries, restaurants, and an annual festival, Rooster Days, that's been held for over 90 years.

11. Sammamish, Washington

Population of the metro area: 66,474

Median home price: $1.9 million

Average monthly rent: $3,845

Median household income: $227,273

Climate Vulnerability Index: 1st percentile, lowest vulnerability

Known for: This picturesque city, home to both the glittering Lake Sammamish and verdant forests, is just a short drive from Seattle. Locals enjoy recreational activities including boating, fishing, and hiking in its multiple parks.

10. Troy, Michigan

Population of the metro area: 89,209

Median home price: $462,500

Average monthly rent: $2,200

Median household income: $119,299

Known for: Not far from Detroit, Troy is home to many companies that support the automotive industry. Somerset Collection is the city's mall, where you'll find upscale stores including Christian Louboutin, Rolex, Versace, and more.

9. Rochester Hills, Michigan

Population of the metro area: 78,330

Median home price: $467,000

Average monthly rent: $1,800

Median household income: $119,054

Known for: With a charming downtown, plenty of nature trails, and a popular cider mill, Rochester Hills has activities for all of Michigan's four seasons. Meadow Brook Amphitheater brings in an eclectic mix of summer concerts, from big-name bands to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

8. Leander, Texas

Population of the metro area: 87,511

Median home price: $403,800

Average monthly rent: $2,195

Median household income: $140,180

Known for: One of the fastest-growing spots in the county, Leander draws people with its good schools and natural beauty. It's a 30-minute drive or a commuter-rail ride from Austin.

7. Apex, North Carolina

Population of the metro area: 75,977

Median home price: $596,000

Average monthly rent: $2,250

Median household income: $138,442

Known for: Apex, North Carolina, a 25-minute drive to Raleigh, is one of the smaller cities on the list, by population, but has a better job market than the national average, according to US News.

6. League City, Texas

Population of the metro area: 118,456

Median home price: $343,800

Average monthly rent: $2,200

Median household income: $119,870

Known for: League City, Texas, is about 26 miles south of Houston and only 30 miles from beaches along the Gulf. It rated highly for value and desirability, according to US News.

5. Cary, North Carolina

Population of the metro area: 182,659

Median home price: $701,500

Average monthly rent: $2,120

Median household income: $129,399

Known for: A suburb of Raleigh, Cary is part of North Carolina's research triangle and attracts people from all over the country — and world — for its robust job market and laid-back lifestyle.

4. Fishers, Indiana

Population of the metro area: 103,986

Median home price: $406,400

Average monthly rent: $2,175

Median household income: $128,141

Known for: Located about 20 miles outside Indianapolis, Fishers has a growing number of tech jobs.

3. Pearland, Texas

Population of the metro area: 129,620

Median home price: $368,900

Average monthly rent: $2,300

Median household income: $112,470

Known for: One of the fastest-growing cities in Texas, Pearland has had its population increase from approximately 19,000 residents to over 100,000 in the last 20 years. It's a suburb of Houston.

2. Carmel, Indiana

Population of the metro area: 103,606

Median home price: $516,600

Average monthly rent: $2,199

Median household income: $134,602

Known for: Carmel, which has a nice civic square, an art and design district, and a network of walking and biking trails, has recently drawn new residents. In 2023, a TikTok video that showed off the local high school's swanky facilities, from big athletic facilities to a radio studio to a café, went viral.

1. Johns Creek, Georgia

Population of the metro area: 81,167

Median home price: $637,500

Average monthly rent: $2,750

Median household income: $160,185

Known for: About 40 minutes north of Atlanta, Johns Creek is the 10th largest city in Georgia and the safest. Fun fact: It wasn't incorporated until 2006.

• Some New York City landlords try to hide their rent-stabilized units to make more money.
• Two frustrated renters wanted to make the availability of stabilized units in NYC more transparent.
• Their new website, RentReboot, alerts users when rent-stabilized apartments are listed on the market.

In February 2024, Ilias Miraoui devised a plan to navigate the hellscape that is apartment hunting in New York City.

The 28-year-old data scientist would populate one browser tab with StreetEasy, the popular Zillow-owned site that has the most comprehensive collection of NYC rental listings. In another tab, Miraoui pulled up the city's official list of buildings with rent-stabilized apartments, which are often cheaper because their monthly rent increases have been capped since 1969.

The system worked. He scored a one-bedroom rent-stabilized apartment on the Lower East Side for $2,400 a month. Based on the rents of similar but market-rate units he toured, Miraoui estimates he's saved about $600 a month since he moved in.

This process should be easier for everyone, he thought. So Miraoui teamed up with software developer Adam Sebti, 30, to launch RentReboot, a new website that alerts users when buildings on the rent-stabilized list have new listings on StreetEasy.

"The idea is to show that information and make it more public," Sebti said. "So everyone can have a chance."

RentReboot users enter what they're looking for in an apartment, including budget, number of bedrooms, preferred neighborhoods, and building amenities like an elevator or doorman. They receive two emails or texts each day summarizing new listings that fit their criteria for free. For $12 a month, users can get real-time email alerts and three texts a day with their best matches. For $20 a month, users get unlimited texts and first access to any new tools.

The duo said they had 20,000 signups in the two weeks after launching the website in mid-April.

Rent-stabilized apartments can be hard to find

Renters see these diamond-in-the-rough apartments as a saving grace in one of the country's most expensive housing markets.

Citing recent city data, The New York Times reported in April that the typical monthly rent for a market-rate unit is around $2,000, but it's only $1,500 for a rent-stabilized unit.

In February, the median asking price for NYC rentals was $3,645, 2.6% more than the year before, according to StreetEasy. A committee approves annual increases for stabilized units, which can be a maximum of 2.75% on a one-year lease and 5.25% on a two-year lease.

Data from the City of New York shows that, as of 2023 — the most recent year with available data — there were about 2.3 million renter-occupied units in NYC. According to the Rent Guidelines Board, the group that sets and monitors rent increases for stabilized units, only about 1 million of those apartments are rent-stabilized.

For many New Yorkers, finding a rent-stabilized apartment is like discovering the Holy Grail — and just as difficult to secure.

In 2019, New York City repealed a former rule that allowed landlords to raise rents 20% on vacant units, aiming to curb soaring rents. Some housing-market analysts believe this has led certain landlords to keep their units off the market, hoping the rule will eventually return.

The Housing and Vacancy Survey, a report published every three years by the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the US Census Bureau, shows that between January and June 2023, about 33,000 of the city's roughly 2.3 million apartments were vacant and available for rent.

The survey estimated that 26,310 rent-stabilized apartments were left vacant in that time period. While that is less than the 43,000 vacant units in the same survey in 2021, it is not much less than the 33,210 units of all housing that were for rent between January and July 2023.

Some renters have had success challenging landlords who have illegally charged them market-rate rent for what is actually a stabilized unit.

Last year, a New York City renter named Danielle, who declined to share her last name with BI for privacy reasons, reached a $150,000 settlement with her former landlord after discovering she was paying market-rate for a unit that was actually rent-stabilized.

"I already didn't kind of trust landlords, but I guess I had lived in this world where I assumed that people, for the most part, told the truth about stuff," she told Business Insider in 2024.

More features to help renters find rent-stabilized units are on the way

Units on RentReboot come from cross-checking addresses with the city's official list, but some are additionally flagged as verified if their StreetEasy profiles also mention their rent-stabilized status.

Miraoui and Sebti are working on ways to quickly verify a unit's rent-stabilized status with its broker, even if it's not explicitly mentioned in the listing.

They also plan to add additional features to the website using generative AI, like analyzing photos of windows in the listings to figure out which units have the most natural light.

• Bridgewater Associates' Greg Jensen has relisted his private island, Rogers Island, for $30 million.
• Part of the Thimble Islands, it has a 10-bedroom home and a pro golfer-designed putting green.
• Jensen cut $5 million off the price and threw in a mainland house to make boating to the island easier.

Even private islands come with problems.

One is the hassle of ferrying family members, guests, and goods back and forth from the mainland.

The new $30 million listing for Rogers Island off the coast of Connecticut, owned by Bridgewater Associates' co-chief investment officer Greg Jensen, offers a solution.

The island, which is $5 million cheaper than when it first listed last year, comes with a five-bedroom home on the mainland that has a private dock.

"This gives you the perfect launching point to get to the island," said Leslie McElwreath, of Sotheby's, who now has the listing with her colleague Joseph Barbieri.

Typically, Rogers and other nearby islands, all part of the Thimble Islands, are serviced by a public ferry that makes multiple stops throughout the day. Now, Rogers Islands' new owner can get to the island directly and seamlessly.

Property records show Rogers Island was purchased by an LLC for $21.5 million in 2018; The Wall Street Journal later identified Jensen as the buyer. Jensen first listed the island in June of 2024 for $35 million.

Rogers Island has multiple houses, a pool, a tennis court, and a putting green designed by famed golfer Jack Nicklaus.

The New York area's financial elite have long had trophy homes in Connecticut. Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and hedge fund boss Steve Cohen own palatial estates in Greenwich, which is a ferry ride and 60 miles from the Thimble Islands.

Take a look around Rogers Island.

Rogers Islands is part of the Thimble Islands, a smattering of 365 tiny islands off the coast of Branford, Connecticut, in the Long Island Sound.

A 1.1-acre property on nearby Potato Island sold for over $4 million in 2020. In 2017, eight of the islands were listed altogether for $50 million, the New Haven Independent reported.

The main house on Rogers Island was built in 1902.

The home is perched on a bluff 45 feet above sea level.

The sprawling mansion totals 8,746 square feet.

Jensen renovated the main house in 2024, adding Calacatta marble countertops, luxury kitchen appliances, and a new wet bar.

The main house has 10 bedrooms.

The main house also has six bathrooms and two half-bathrooms.

Rogers Island also has a four-bedroom guesthouse, an artist's studio, a tennis court, and a pool.

The artist's studio has its own outdoor shower.

The pergola beside the pool is intended for seaside dining.

There is also island-wide internet access.

Many of the island's 7.7 acres are meticulously landscaped.

There are three private beaches on the island.

The putting green was designed by famous golfer Jack Nicklaus.

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus won 18 major championships throughout his career and now runs a successful course-designing business.

The mainland house last sold for $4.3 million on its own, according to McElwreath, the listing agent.

The mainland home with a dock allows for easy boat parking and direct access to Rogers Island. The house, which last traded hands for $4.3 million, is now a deal-sweetener of sorts for the $30 million private island.

• Airbnb is now offering Airbnb Services for people to book private chefs or personal trainers.
• You can hire them — or hair and makeup artists or photographers — to come to your Airbnb or home.
• An Airbnb executive told BI it's one way the company is trying to win back customers from hotels.

In 2007, when Airbnb's cofounder Brian Chesky charged $80 for tech conference attendees to sleep on an air mattress in his San Francisco apartment, the rental did not come with the option to have a personal trainer stop by and lead a workout.

The short-term rental booking giant is in a different era these days. The $84 billion company lowered its revenue guidance for the second quarter, saying travel demand had softened, some local regulators had cracked down on Airbnbs, and competition with hotels was fierce.

On Tuesday, Airbnb launched an offering called Airbnb Services, which allows people to hire on-site professionals. These professionals — including private chefs, photographers, massage therapists, personal trainers, hairstylists, and makeup artists — can come to your Airbnb or to your home. Airbnb said that services are available in 260 cities and that many start below $50.

"Maybe you're staying at an Airbnb for a wedding. You don't have a spa on-site. Guess what? Bring the spa to you," Dave Stephenson, Airbnb's chief business officer, told Business Insider.

The new feature could sway travelers deciding between an Airbnb and a hotel, Stephenson added.

"People choose Airbnb often because of their location and amenities, but our amenities usually are maybe more space, more bedrooms, maybe a washer-dryer," he said. "But then there are still things that we don't provide that a hotel does."

Travelers are often deciding between hotels and Airbnbs

Time will tell if Airbnb Services can win over customers who might otherwise use local directories, other online listings, or social media marketplaces to hire in-home professionals.

Travelers deciding between hotels and Airbnbs have cited reasons beyond on-site amenities.

Duane Brown, a digital marketer who travels internationally at least seven times a year, told BI in August that he had decided to switch from staying in Airbnbs to booking hotels because of consistency.

The change of heart came after a stay in a Budapest Airbnb. Upon arrival, Brown was disappointed to find that the listing pictures hid damaged walls and a run-down bathroom. He said he began to trust the "standard of care" hotels provided. Airbnb has said it cracked down on quality control and, in March 2024, reported that it had removed 112,000 subpar listings from the platform.

"If there are no independent hotels or Marriotts, well, then maybe I'd go to Airbnb, but there's always been at least one of those in a city I go to," he said.

Mikhaila Friel, a former BI writer, enjoyed staying in Airbnbs on group trips, but for solo adventures to London, Luxembourg, Brussels, and Oslo, Norway, she booked hotels, in part to meet other travelers.

"It's not unusual for solo travelers to get lonely once and a while," Friel wrote. "I've found that staying at hotels helped massively, as I was able to socialize with employees and other travelers when I was there."

Joey Hadden, a BI travel reporter, said she preferred the quirks of unusual Airbnbs, choosing geodesic domes in Canada and a converted lifeguard tower in Florida over typical hotel stays.

"Hotels offer me a comfortable place to doze during my travels," Hadden wrote, "while Airbnbs give me another new adventure."

• A humble 3-bedroom Illinois home listed for sale this week is now in the world spotlight.
• Chicago native Pope Leo XIV, also known as Robert Prevost, grew up in this house.
• Originally listed for $199,000, the home has been pulled off the market as the owner decides what to do.

News of a plain, brick, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home built in 1959 hitting the market outside Chicago wouldn't typically make headlines.

Then the world discovered that the 1,200-square-foot home is where Pope Leo XIV, until Thursday known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, spent his childhood.

According to Zillow, the home was most recently bought for $66,000 in May 2024. It was then flipped and re-listed for $205,000 in January, before being cut to $199,000.

Steve Budzik, a real estate agent working with the home's owner, said they were shocked to learn the news of the home's history.

"He was like, 'Wow,'" Budzik said of owner Paul Radzik. "It's better than winning the lotto. We were both very surprised and honored. It was a lot of emotions."

Budzik said the home garnered "steady interest" before Thursday, averaging one to two viewings a week, but that the fanfare surrounding the first American pope brightened the spotlight.

"Since yesterday, at around 10 o'clock, I would say my client and I have received seven to eight offers," Budzik said. "We took the listing off, so there were no showings, but if we had left it on the market, it would've probably been booked out all day."

The owner has decided to delist the home as they weigh their options.

"It's like a collectible car they only made one of," Budzik said.

Budzik said the owner might keep the home, but is considering several options, including turning it into a museum honoring Pope Leo XIV or a rental space where admirers could stay.

"Every day people are reaching out to us with their own ideas as well, so we're just going to wait and review everything and come up with a plan in the next few weeks," he said.

Budzik told BI that the owner has also considered reaching out the Pope Leo XIV's brother, who lives in Illinois, for his thoughts.

Hometown pride has swelled for Leo XIV. Weiner's Circle, a celebrated local hot dog joint, put up a Latin sign exclaiming: Canes Nostros Ipse Comedit ("He has eaten our dogs").

Chicago resident Frank Calabrese, 37, was among the first to discover the home's new place in history. As a self-professed Chicago history nerd, Calabrese started digging around on Thursday to find out more about the life of Pope Leo XIV.

As a law clerk for property tax cases, he also knew exactly where to look. He searched local tax records and found the deed that listed the Pope's father's name.

"It is strange to feel like there's a personal connection to the Pope," Calabrese told BI.

• Real estate investor Corvon Burgess started his business after seeing a TikTok video two years ago.
• He is now looking for backers to fund his conversion of a South Carolina hotel into apartments.
• Burgess turned back to TikTok to help raise money to renovate the motel while keeping rents low.

Corvon Burgess first learned about real-estate investing on TikTok.

In 2023, he came across videos about wholesaling, a real-estate investing strategy in which people act as scouts for other investors. They search out under-the-radar properties, secure a contract with the seller, and then resell that contract to another buyer for a profit.

Burgess started out finding a home listed for auction on Zillow in Clinton, South Carolina, a small town of 7,700 an hour north of Columbia. He sold the contract to the home to another buyer through Facebook Marketplace, making a $5,000 profit.

That first deal opened Burgess' eyes to the potential of a career in real estate. At the time, he was enrolled at Francis Marion University and working at Waffle House.

"You can truly learn about building wealth and how opportunities can open up to you," Burgess, now 24, told Business Insider.

So far, Burgess has sold 10 contracts. His investment firm, Burgess Legacy Investments, also runs short-term rentals and invests in local businesses, including restaurants. Now, he's gearing up for his biggest project yet: buying a rundown motel and turning the rooms into affordably priced studio apartments.

The hotel conversion plan includes keeping rents low

Burgess launched what he's calling the Affordable Housing Project Initiative this year with the intention of buying an 80-room motel in his hometown of Manning, South Carolina, about an hour and a half south of Columbia.

He plans to turn it into 40 studios with rents under $950 a month, utilities included. Zillow only shows one home currently for rent in Manning, a four-bedroom house asking $1,700 a month.

"If we're seeing this need within the place that we grew up in, we've got to do something," Burgess said.

Burgess specifically searched for motels that appeared to be neglected by their owners, looking for outdated, spam-filled websites and non-working telephone numbers.

He found a 1980s-built hotel that was originally a Howard Johnson's before its previous owners took it independent. Burgess said that the building is showing signs of distress; photos from online hotel reviews show a rusty fence and dirty pool.

Currently, he's under contract for the property at $2.45 million, with a down payment of $300,000 set aside from his other investing streams, according to a November 2024 contract Burgess shared with Business Insider. He told BI that he has since negotiated the terms down to a $2.3 million purchase price and a $150,000 down payment, and that his expected monthly payment on the debt is $18,500.

Burgess is seeking additional funds for the hotel conversion

First, Burgess is asking local religious groups that have set aside money to support affordable housing to help fund the motel renovation.

Burgess also reached out to Peyton Vanest, a 26-year-old content creator based in Pittsburgh who has over 700,000 followers on TikTok. Vanest, whose content mostly centers on progressive politics, has urged his followers to donate as little as 50 cents or $1 to GoFundMe he set up if they support Burgess' vision.

Burgess launched a GoFundMe on March 19 with a goal of $500,000 to raise money for the motel renovation. Vanest than shared that link with his followers and, as of May 8, it had raised $345,329.

Vanest said some of his followers have reached out with plans to replicate Burgess' model in their states.

• US News & World Report ranked the best states to live in the US in 2025.
• It weighed 71 metrics across eight categories, including education, healthcare, crime, and nature.
• Utah was named the best state to live in the US for the third year in a row.

Where you live is one of the biggest decisions of your life.

People choose where to put down roots for all sorts of reasons — whether it's to cut costs, find better jobs, enjoy nature, or have greater access to public transportation.

Finding the right place isn't always easy, but data can make it a whole lot simpler. Each year, US News & World Report ranks all 50 states based on factors including their economy, education, healthcare, infrastructure, crime, and their natural environment. Researchers considered 71 different metrics to rank the best state to live in.

In 2025, most of the best states to live in were in the Midwest and New England. Utah took the top spot for the third year in a row, with New Hampshire close behind at number two for the second straight year. Idaho moved up to third from its 2024 position, while Minnesota held steady at fourth. South Dakota was the only new addition to the top 10.

Despite the South's booming economy and long-standing reputation for affordability and job growth, Florida was the only southern state to make the list. This may signal a broader shift in the region's appeal, as market forces, as well as political and social shifts, continue to reshape the cost of living, school systems, and culture of the South.

Read on for more about the 10 best states to live in the US, according to US News & World Report. While each state has strengths and areas to improve, many offer good schools and hospitals, strong public safety, and plenty of ways to enjoy the outdoors.

The population data is from the US Census.

10. Washington

Population: 7,958,180

Known for: Economic opportunities driven by Seattle's tech sector often draw new residents to Washington. The Pacific Northwest's ample landscapes and outdoor recreational activities are appealing, too.

Erin Sanchez said she found the best of both worlds in her Seattle suburb in a Business Insider essay published in December 2024.

"We live on a quiet street where the towns of Covington and Maple Valley meet, and suburban life blends with nature. We have ample space for a garden, and hiking and biking trails are minutes away," Sanchez wrote.

Ranked high for: Natural environment (7th out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Opportunity (40th out of 50 states)

9. Massachusetts

Population: 7,136,171

Known for: With major universities, world-class hospitals, and a bustling tech innovation sector concentrated in Boston, Massachusetts' economy is a major draw for residents.

In 2019, writer Jamie Evan Bichelman moved to Boston with his partner. He ultimately moved to the nearby suburb of Sudbury to save on housing. Boston's job opportunities were an important stepping stone.

"Despite the downsides we experienced, we have a lot to thank Boston for, too. We grew into adulthood and advanced our careers there," Bichelman wrote in a 2024 Business Insider essay.

Ranked high for: Healthcare (second out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Infrastructure (39th out of 50 states)

8. South Dakota

Population: 924,669

Known for: Affordable, family-friendly towns with unspoiled access to nature are a major draw for residents of South Dakota.

Single mom Kseniya Melnikova moved to South Dakota from New York City with her daughter in 2023.

"Nature here is less curated and more accessible. Parks are protected as wild zones rather than meticulously manicured gardens, fostering a more symbiotic relationship with nature and wildlife," Melnikova wrote for Business Insider in an essay published in April of 2024.

Ranked high for: Infrastructure (second out of 50 states)

Ranked high for: Healthcare (46th out of 50 states)

7. Vermont

Population: 648,493

Known for: Abundant space, small-town charm, and relatively affordable housing have attracted people to Vermont.

In 2024, Taylor and Tatum Barnes left their Brooklyn studio for a one-bedroom home on 2.6 acres in Hartford, Vermont, near Dartmouth College.

The millennial couple paid $160,000.

"Compared to New York City, the mortgage is half that of what we paid for rent," Tatum said.

Ranked high for: Opportunity (first out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Fiscal stability (41st out of 50 states)

6. Florida

Population: 23,372,215

Known for: Living in a tropical, palm-treed paradise year-round is one reason Florida is one of the fastest-growing states in the US. Five of its metropolitan areas — including Orlando and Panama City — experienced some of the biggest population increases in the country last year.

Data analyst Allie Hubers and her husband moved from the Midwest to Destin, Florida. "We still can't believe we live 10 minutes from the ocean, let alone some of the best beaches in the US," she wrote in an essay for Business Insider published in April.

Ranked high for: Economy (first out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Opportunity (47th out of 50 states)

5. Nebraska

Population: 2,005,465

Known for: While Pawnee, Nebraska, recently announced a program that pays people to move there, other parts of the Cornhusker State need no such incentives.

Native Nebraskan Bill MacKenzie told Business Insider in 2024 that he and his husband looked at retiring to California, Florida Texas, and Arizona, but couldn't find a place that fit their budget and tastes. They chose to spend part of the year in Nebraska and part in Mexico.

Ranked high for: Infrastructure (first out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Economy (29th out of 50 states)

4. Minnesota

Population: 5,793,151

Known for: Being the "land of 10,000 lakes."

Amena Ahmed moved to Minneapolis from Ewing, New Jersey, in 2019 for college and stayed put after graduating. She found that she enjoyed hanging out at the lake more than at the beach.

"But I've grown to love these freshwater lakes way more than 'real' ocean beaches," she said in 2023. "The privacy and calm environment make the experience way more enjoyable than what I'm used to on the Jersey Shore, which feels less clean and more hectic."

Ranked high for: Opportunity (seventh out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Economy (28th out of 50 states)

3. Idaho

Population: 2,001,619

Known for: Idaho may be synonymous with potatoes to the uninitiated, but it has a lot more to offer. The state is climbing in favorability, up from the fifth spot on the 2024 list of best states to live in.

A family that moved from California to Idaho found it clean and quiet, with good school options for kids.

Ranked high for: Economy (fourth out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Education (29th out of 50 states)

2. New Hampshire

Population: 1,409,032

Known for: The "Granite State" has picturesque landscapes and relatively little crime.

Business Insider contributor Kelly Burch moved to rural New Hampshire after living in a Boston suburb and has found it a better place to raise her children.

"Our small town has a very close community made up equally of people who grew up here and transplants like us," she wrote in 2024.

Ranked high for: Crime and corrections (first out of 50 states)

Ranked less high for: Fiscal stability (37th out of 50 states)

1. Utah

Population: 3,503,613

Known for: Utah yet again took the number one spot as the best state to live, according to US News & World Report's rankings.

It has a range of places to live, from Salt Lake City, with a population of over 200,000, and more quaint towns like Midway, a popular ski destination.

A millennial mom who moved to Salt Lake City from San Diego said the costs of living and childcare were lower; she was drawn to Utah's natural beauty, safety, and family-friendliness.

Best at: Fiscal stability (first out of 50 states)

Worst at: Opportunity (19th out of 50 states)

• Cities all over the world, including on the US East and Gulf Coasts, are sinking.
• This phenomenon, called subsidence, can make extreme flooding worse and damage infrastructure.
• From New York to Houston, these 13 cities are losing height each year.

Cities are sinking across the US, some at a few fractions of a millimeter each year, while others lose up to six millimeters a year.

This phenomenon, called subsidence, is a "slow-moving yet widespread hazard," said Manoochehr Shirzaei, a geophysicist at Virginia Tech who co-authored a study published in Nature in March that measured subsidence in 32 coastal cities in the US.

Sinking can come from the sheer weight of skyscrapers and infrastructure, or from people drawing water from underground. Some of it is leftover from the last Ice Age.

Coastal cities worldwide are already prone to catastrophic flooding as sea levels rise because of the climate crisis. Factor in sinking, and the world's vulnerability to future coastal flooding triples, according to a 2019 study.

In the US, sea-level rise combined with subsidence could expose $109 billion of coastal property to high-tide flooding by 2050, according to Shirzaei's calculations.

The good news is that there are relatively inexpensive solutions to subsidence, Shirzaei told Business Insider in an email.

"The key takeaway is that we still have sufficient time to manage this hazard," he said.

Here are the biggest cities that are sinking the most, according to his new study, in geographical order starting from the northern East Coast.

Boston, Massachusetts

Shirzaei and his co-authors have found that there's a lot of variation in subsidence throughout Boston. When sinking occurs at different rates like that, it can put extra strain on infrastructure.

For example, some areas of Boston are sinking about 1 millimeter per year, give or take. Others sink nearly 4 millimeters a year — which translates to almost 4 centimeters per decade.

New York City

The Big Apple is losing about 1.5 millimeters of height each year.

All three airports in the NYC area are sinking, too, according to a study Shirzaei co-authored in 2024. JFK is sinking about 1.7 mm per year, LaGuardia at 1.5 mm per year, and Newark's airport is clocking 1.4 mm per year.

LaGuardia, for one, has already installed water pumps, berms, flood walls, and flood doors. Previous estimates had Laguardia flooding monthly by 2050 and fully underwater by 2100 — and that's without subsidence.

Jersey City, New Jersey

Just across the Hudson River, Jersey City is matching NYC's pace of about 1.5 millimeters per year.

To measure sinking at such a granular level, Shirzaei and his co-authors mapped ground deformations using a satellite-based radar technique called InSAR (short for Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar).

Atlantic City, New Jersey

A little further south, Atlantic City has its neighbors beat with a subsidence of about 2.8 millimeters per year.

A portion of the East Coast's subsidence is a leftover reaction from the disappearance of the Laurentide ice sheet, which covered much of North America during the last Ice Age. The ice sheet's bulk caused the exposed land around its edges to bulge upward — and the mid-Atlantic region is still settling down from the ice sheet's retreat.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Virginia Beach, Virginia, is sinking 2.2 millimeters per year. Meanwhile, sea level rise has become a growing concern for locals.

In 2021, residents voted in favor of a $568 million program to build infrastructure that guards against rising sea level, according to PBS news.

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the most populous city in South Carolina and its downtown sits on a peninsula flanked by the Ashley River and Cooper River. The city overall is sinking at a median rate of 2.2 millimeters per year, though in some areas its more dramatic at a rate of 6 millimeters per year.

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah is losing almost 2 millimeters per year, though some areas are sinking as much as 5 millimeters per year.

Over 13,000 properties in Savannah are at risk of flooding over the next 30 years, according to the climate risk analysis group First Street. That's over 23% of all homes in the city.

Miami

Last year, a study found that luxury high-rises were slowly sinking on the barrier islands surrounding Miami, possibly due to vibration from nearby construction. Shirzaei found the mainland is sinking, too, by about half a millimeter each year.

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is losing 1.87 millimeters per year. The Gulf Coast city experiences some of the highest volume of rain in the US, according to the city's official website, and encourages all residents to have disaster survival kits, including canned foods and flashlights, on hand in the event of a flooding emergency.

Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi has the most drastic subsidence of all the US cities Shirzaei's team assessed. On the whole, Biloxi is sinking about 5.6 millimeters per year, with a lot of variation. Some parts of the city may be sinking as much as 10 millimeters per year.

New Orleans

New Orleans is losing 1.3 millimeters per year. First Street reports that 99.6% of all properties in the city are at risk of flooding in the next 30 years.

Houston and Galveston, Texas

Shirzaei found that Galveston, Texas, is sinking more than 4 millimeters a year, but inland parts of Houston have also been sinking for decades due to groundwater extraction.

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is sinking almost 3 millimeters per year. Some researchers think local oil and gas drilling has contributed to subsidence, reported local ABC outlet KIIV

"Extraction, generally, we believe it initiates and activates movement around faults and those could initiate land subsidence in some areas," Mohamed Ahmed, a geophysics professor at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, told the outlet.

What about the West Coast?

Shirzaei's team didn't find much subsidence in California's coastal cities, although the state's inland Central Valley is sinking due to groundwater extraction.

As for Oregon and Washington, the researchers simply don't have good enough data yet to say what's happening to the ground there.

• Unit owners at 432 Park Avenue, a luxury tower in New York City, have now sued the developers twice.
• A 2021 complaint said the building was "riddled" with "construction and design defects."
• The owners now say in a new complaint that the developers committed "massive fraud."

432 Park Avenue, the narrow 1,396-foot-tall residential skyscraper on New York City's Billionaires' Row, was advertised as an architectural marvel when tenants first moved in nearly a decade ago.

Now those tenants say the luxury tower is beset by cracks, leaks, elevator malfunctions, and relentless noise.

Unit owners have filed two separate complaints against the building's developers. One, filed in 2021, says the building is plagued with structural issues and accuses the developers of not addressing them. The other, filed last month, accuses the developers of "massive fraud."

Renting a unit at 432 Park Avenue can cost $1 million a year. On Zillow, a two-bedroom unit is listed for sale for over $10 million, while a four-bedroom unit is listed for sale for $35 million.

According to StreetEasy, a New York City listings site owned by Zillow, owners of 432 Park's 104 condos have access to 30,000 square feet of amenities, including a residents-only restaurant, room service, a pool, a library with a wood-burning fireplace, a billiards room, a board room, and a screening room.

When it opened in 2015, 432 Park was the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere at 96 stories. Another Billionaires' Row building, Central Park Tower, eclipsed it in 2019.

A board representing individual and commercial unit owners at 432 Park listed CIM Group, Macklowe Properties, and the company they formed to build the condominium in the 2021 lawsuit.

"What was promised as one of the finest condominiums in the City was instead delivered riddled with over 1,500 identified construction and design defects to the common elements of the Building alone (leaving aside the numerous defects within individual units)," tenants said in the 2021 complaint.

They said the developers "refused to accept responsibility for the vast majority of its errors" and didn't properly address the defects.

The building's developers defended themselves in a 2021 court filing: "432 Park had such issues — no different from any other building. Plaintiffs, however, have vastly exaggerated the scope of the work that was required (both in the reports of their consultant, SBI Consultants, Inc. ("SBI"), and in their Complaint) in furtherance of their gambit to exact undue payments from Sponsor."

In April, the tenants filed a second lawsuit against the group, as well as service firm WSP, SLCE Architects, and McGraw Hudson Construction, which is owned by the founder of Macklowe Properties. The unit owners said those companies knew "since the outset of construction that the Building's white concrete façade's design was wholly defective and would never hold up."

The developers "conspired with the other Defendants to concoct and disseminate fraudulent misrepresentations through the condominium offering plan and the Department of Buildings to conceal these alarming defects from Unit Owners in order to secure massive profits and leave Plaintiffs holding the bag," unit owners said in the April complaint.

In May 2024, The Wall Street Journal published an analysis from real-estate listings and property records, as well as interviews with people familiar with the building, that showed that the ongoing issues and legal action have pushed down sales activity and prices.

Compass realtors Alexandra Hedaya and Jason Haber, however, told Business Insider that they hadn't yet seen any impact on prices as a result of the lawsuits.

They hold the listing for a 4,462-square-foot, five-bedroom on the 55th floor now listed for $29.5 million. The home first hit the market in 2022 for $33 million. The developer sold it to its current owner for 23.87 million in 2016, according to New York City property records.

"It's hard to prove a negative. I can't tell you who hasn't called me because they're like, 'Oh, I don't want to look in the building.' So I only know the people who contact me about the building," Haber said.

Macklowe Properties, WSP, and the developer group did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Representatives for SLCE Architects and CIM Group denied the accusations in the April complaint and told BI they planned to move to dismiss it.

An attorney for the unit owners told BI, "This matter extends beyond negligence into an alleged calculated scheme, driven by greed, that eroded trust."

Although litigation is ongoing, the lawsuits offer a glimpse of what it's like to live in the famous building.

Flooding and water infiltration

Tenants said they experienced "repeated" leakage and floods in the building's common areas, including two "substantial" leaks in 2018.

The leaks caused water to enter the elevator shaft, shutting down service for two of four residential elevators "for weeks," according to the 2021 complaint.

"Thirty-five units, as well as common areas, suffered water damage," the unit owners said. "An investigation revealed that the cause was poor plumbing installation, including loose bolts buried under insulation."

"Persistent" water infiltration issues have also affected the tower's sub-basement levels, the unit owners said.

Noise and vibrations

Other issues tenants had with 432 Park Avenue's structure were noise and vibration, which they called one of the building's "most persistent and disruptive defects" in 2021.

"Apartments are plagued by creaking, banging, and clicking noises. Using the trash chute sounds 'like a bomb,'" unit owners said in the complaint. "The noise and vibration issues have been so severe that some Unit Owners have been forced to move out for lengthy periods, and in at least one case for over nineteen months — during a pandemic — while the issue is remediated."

Elevator malfunctions

Malfunctions with the building's elevators were also mentioned in the 2021 complaint.

"While Elevator disruptions have been particularly pervasive in the Residential towers, all areas of the Building, including the retail area, garage, and commercial space, have experienced and continue to experience malfunctions and shutdowns," tenants said. "Even escalators in the commercial space have malfunctioned, requiring prolonged shutdowns."

In addition to water leakage, the unit owner said in the complaint that the construction resulted in "wind conditions frequently disrupting the Building's elevator operations."

The exterior white concrete façade

Last month, the second complaint from tenants focused on the white concrete façade that comprises the building's exterior.

Unit owners said the design means the exterior is "plagued with thousands of severe cracks, spalling, and other forms of deterioration, which have led to major water infiltrations and flooding, corrosion of the steel rebar reinforcing the concrete columns, as well as other significant damage."

They said the parties listed in their 2025 complaint knew the façade would "never" hold up, and the group ignored warnings about potential defects.

Other issues

Residents said there were also visible cracks in the drywall on the walls and ceilings of the condos.

But that's not all: The 2021 complaint also cited "baseboard pulling and misaligned joints, malfunctioning sliding doors, grout joint openings and cracking at walls or floors in ceramic and/or stone tiling, excessive fog and window condensation, gaps and misalignment between wall and ceiling light fixtures, and repeated circuit breaker tripping."

• A legal ruling about how real-estate agents are paid has opened new possibilities in real estate.
• Home sellers have more flexibility in how and how much they pay their agents and buyers' agents.
• These startups promise to save home sellers money compared to the traditional commission structure.

Last year, a landmark court decision rocked the real estate world.

The National Association of Realtors, which represents 1.5 million agents nationwide, settled multiple class-action lawsuits over claims that its practices unfairly drove up commissions for both homebuyers and sellers.

As a result, NAR created new rules that give sellers more flexibility in how they pay their agents. Instead of home sellers paying the standard 5% or 6% of a home's purchase price — which pays their agent, who in turn passes along half to the buyer's broker — sellers now have more options that could reduce those costs. Also as a result of the settlement, buyers may be more likely to have to cover their broker's fee themselves.

In reality, not much has changed so far. Many real estate brokerages have found workarounds to ensure their agents keep getting the highest commissions. Only 6% of sellers listed their homes for sale by owner, and 86% of homebuyers still used an agent, NAR found, according to 2024 NAR data.

Startups have long tried to challenge the traditional model of buying and selling homes and its reliance on real estate agents. The court settlement gives their missions new relevance.

For example, a newly launched online marketplace called Galleon allows sellers to list their homes for sale by owner.

Listwise, meanwhile, allows sellers to put out a call for their dream agent, including the level of experience they desire and their ideal commission structure. Agents then bid for the opportunity to sell the home, and the seller has the option to choose one offering lower fees.

Below are six startups, listed in alphabetical order, that are trying to save home sellers money by shaking up the role and pay of the traditional real estate agent.

Galleon

Think Craigslist, but for homes — that's the idea behind Galleon.

Galleon is an off-market, for-sale-by-owner residential marketplace that lets homeowners name their prices to see if any buyers bite.

"We believe that there should be a free and open consumer-led marketplace," Amanda Orson, the CEO and founder of Galleon, told BI.

While similar to platforms like Zillow and Redfin, Galleon removes brokers and agents entirely — a move the company said can save sellers $30,000 or more, presuming a typical 6% commission.

Galleon doesn't post days-on-the-market data for its listings, which Orson said gives sellers "no incentive not to try" going without a broker. On traditional platforms, a high days-on-the-market figure on a listing might lead prospective buyers to think a property is either priced too high or that something is wrong with it.

Creating a listing on Galleon's app or website is free.

For $299, sellers can upgrade their listings with professional photography, a digital yard sign with a QR code so sellers don't have to post their phone numbers publicly, and featured placement on Galleon's website for added visibility.

For those wanting more support, Galleon's $899 package includes tools like a scheduling calendar for inspections and appraisals, an offer management dashboard, in-app e-signing, and access to legal support — all aimed at simplifying the sales process and cutting down out-of-pocket costs for the seller.

"We don't think there is a future without agents," Orson told BI. "We think that there is a minority of people who want to be able to transact without one. That's who we're here to support."

The platform is free for home buyers and available nationwide.

Listwise

Listwise isn't trying to push real estate agents out of the picture — its aim is to help home sellers find the right one.

The platform, aimed primarily at sellers, uses an incentive-based commission model designed to boost competition between agents and improve transparency for home sellers.

Here's how it works: On Listwise's digital platform, sellers share the commission amount they're willing to pay a listing agent and what they're looking for in one — including number of years of experience, importance of local market knowledge, or whether they prefer someone from a big-name brokerage or a smaller local firm. Sellers also propose how much they are willing to pay the buyers' agent.

Listwise then matches the sellers with qualified listing agents in its network who meet those preferences.

Each listing agent then bids for the listing by submitting a personalized offer that includes their commission charge. If a seller chooses one of those agents and the home sells, that agent pays Listwise a referral fee or commission for helping them win the business.

Off-Markt

Alison Bernstein first got the idea for a real estate app when a friend sent her a fitness influencer's Instagram video.

Bernstein liked the flow of the influencer's apartment and messaged her directly to see if she'd be interested in selling. They ended up closing an off-market deal. Bernstein then found an off-market buyer for her own apartment.

It inspired her to create an Off-Markt, an app with an Instagram-like interface that lets homeowners show off their spaces and attract prospective buyers year-round — without ever formally listing them.

"The consumer should own the story of their home. They should own that digital footprint," Bernstein, who is based in New York City, told Business Insider.

On Off-Markt, a user creates profiles for their home. They can post photos showing off the best features of their property. Bernstein's hope is that homeowners feel like they can "own the narrative" of their space and better attract future buyers.

"The average consumer is very savvy," Bernstein said.

Real estate agents create a profile on the app for $50 a month and offer their services to users who might need extra help.

Off-Markt declined to share how many homes and cities are currently listed on the site.

Redy

Josh Altman, a real estate agent featured on "Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles," cofounded Redy in 2020 to encourage transparent competition among agents.

On Redy, agents compete for the opportunity to sell your home by offering incentives like a "cash bonus" and competitive commission prices.

"For the first time, sellers get paid cash to pick an agent; as a result, agents are directly invested in the sale," Altman said in a 2024 press release. "All agents have the opportunity to own local seller listings, which will, in return, help them own the local market they operate in and level the playing field for listings. When you own local seller listings, you own your local market."

Kenneth Bloom, who used Redy to sell two homes in Michigan, told BI in 2024 that he appreciated having agents come to him. Otherwise, he said, he would've had to do a lot of legwork to find the right person to sell his homes.

He said he was able to find an experienced agent who was familiar with his area and could get his homes sold fast, which was a priority for him. He ended up finding a buyer for one of the homes in one day through the agent he found on Redy.

Bloom said he received a $1,200 cash bonus for the first house he sold through Redy and $1,040 on the second. He estimated he saved nearly $10,000 on broker commissions between the two transactions.

Ridley

When the tech entrepreneur Mike Chambers wanted to sell his Boulder, Colorado, home in February, he didn't see the point in using an agent.

He described his five-bedroom, four-bathroom home as a "turnkey house in a desirable neighborhood." He wasn't sure how much an agent would have to do besides uploading the home's photos online and unlocking the door for tours.

So Chambers listed the home himself for $2.725 million and started an Instagram called @realtorshateme to document his for-sale-by-owner adventure. The account, which has nearly 18,000 followers, quickly drew the ire of local Boulder agents. Chambers told BI he saw videos of agents on social media saying they wouldn't take clients to his house.

Chambers found an out-of-state buyer through Instagram, but his family ultimately decided to pull their house off the market and stay in Colorado.

The experience opened Chambers' eyes to the possibilities of — and appetite for — a broker-less way to sell your home.

Enter Ridley, a new app that's set to launch by the end of May. It will offer homeowners a suite of AI agents who can help people who want to list their property for sale by owner, or FSBO.

"Technology has basically made almost every step of this process more efficient, and there's been no reflection in the price or in the costs associated with these transactions to reflect that," Chambers said.

The AI agents can do things like write a listing description or book photographers. Sellers would pay a one-time fee of $999 or $1,999 to add an on-call lawyer.

"A product like this that empowers consumers to take control of this process and save lots of money is really good," he added.

Turbohome

Turbohome is a real-estate brokerage that pays agents a salary rather than a more typical commission-based compensation and gives buyers the option to pay a flat fee.

"They have healthcare, they have a salary, and they have consistent work," Ben Bear, Turbohome's cofounder and CEO Ben Bear, said of his agents.

"It's appealing for people who just like working with clients without that pressure of knowing how they're going to pay their next rent check," he told BI in 2024.

Instead of paying a percentage commission, buyers pay a flat fee to the Turbohome agent — between $5,000 and $10,000 — and the commission given to the agent is then credited to the buyer.

Turbohome's site has a "cash back calculator" that shows buyers their refund based on a home's price. For example, a buyer would be refunded $35,000 on a $1.5 million home purchase.

Arnab Dutta used Turbohome to buy a home in the Bay Area in 2024 after trying the traditional route without success in years past, and his offer beat out other offers because he said the seller didn't have to pay his agent's commission, he previously told BI.

Turbohome launched in 2024 and had raised $3.85 million as of March. The brokerage currently operates in California, Texas, and Washington.

• Vrbo took shots at its rival Airbnb in a Super Bowl commercial and a cheeky billboard campaign.
• Airbnb challenged Vrbo's phrasing to the National Advertising Division, an independent regulator.
• Vrbo said it would stop using some of its claims that imply Airbnbs always have on-site hosts.

Vrbo has taken a few big swings at Airbnb, its main competitor, in the past nine months.

First, the vacation-rental company ran a commercial featuring famously intimidating football coach Nick Saban. In the ad, which debuted in August, he pretends to be an overbearing Airbnb host, lounging in a hot tub with guests who plainly preferred to be left alone.

"When other vacation rentals make you share your turf with a host, try one you have all to yourself," the narrator said.

The spot also ran during the 2025 Super Bowl, when 30 seconds of airtime cost a reported $7 million.

In March, Vrbo put up tongue-in-cheek billboards, including one right outside Airbnb's San Francisco headquarters. The text on some billboards emphasized that Vrbo is host-free.

Now, a national watchdog group has ruled that Vrbo took some of its claims too far and recommended it stop using the commercial and billboard. Vrbo said in a statement to Business Insider that it will comply.

The National Advertising Division, an independent regulatory body founded in 1971, reviewed the Vrbo campaign after Airbnb filed a complaint. This week, the NAD determined that Vrbo inaccurately communicated to consumers that "Airbnb always has hosts that cohabitate with guests during their stay."

Airbnb filed the initial claim for the NAD to review Vrbo's campaign, but both companies' cooperation during the NAD review process was voluntary.

Companies typically file a complaint with the NAD when "they see advertising by a competitor that is unsupported or might be misleading," NAD attorney Eric Unis told Business Insider.

"We're pleased with the NAD's decision," a spokesperson for Airbnb told Business Insider.

Vrbo said in a statement to Business Insider that it took issue with some of the specific critiques in the NAD review but did not elaborate on them. Vrbo also said it would follow the recommendation.

"We stand by our messages and respectfully disagree with NAD's findings on two claims, but will comply with the required changes," a spokesperson for Vrbo said.

Advertising expert Ashley Rutstein told Business Insider earlier this year that confrontational marketing can be a fruitful strategy, especially when an underdog is trying to punch up.

Airbnb commands a 44% market share of the global short-term-rental industry, dwarfing Vrbo's 9%, according to a 2024 estimate by travel news site Skift.

Rutstein told BI in March that she believed travelers could easily find listings without hosts on-site via Airbnb, not just Vrbo, which weakened the Vrbo campaign's effectiveness.

"They had the right idea, but not the right execution," Rutstein told BI.

The NAD recently issued another ruling in a spat between beer rivals Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch. Molson Coors claimed its competitor's light beers "taste like water," but the NAD found Molson Coors submitted no evidence supporting the claim.

• The typical starter home costs at least $1 million in 233 US cities, a Zillow study found.
• Just five years ago, only 85 cities had starter homes that cost at least $1 million.
• It's a telling sign of how pricey homes are, even in areas once considered relatively affordable.

The typical price of a starter home was $1 million or higher in 233 US cities last month, a new report from Zillow found.

To define starter home prices, Zillow looked at estimated home values toward the bottom of the market in each city, between the 5th and 35th percentiles for each area.

The real-estate listings site found that the typical price of starter homes in at least one city in half of all US states reached $1 million or higher.

The typical price for a starter home nationally stood at $192,514 — well under $1 million. However, the Zillow data shows just how expensive homes have become since 2020, including in states like Rhode Island and Minnesota that aren't historically known for ultra-pricey real estate. Five years ago, only 85 cities had typical starter homes costing $1 million and up.

California led Zillow's 2025 list of places with the most expensive starter homes, with 113 cities where the typical one is $1 million or higher. New York, with 32 cities, and New Jersey, with 20, followed.

In fact, eight California cities made the top 15 most expensive cities for starter homes, with the typical price exceeding $3 million. Four cities in Washington, all located in the Seattle metropolitan area, also made the top 15.

Jupiter Island, Florida, where celebrities like Bill Gates and Tiger Woods have owned waterfront mansions, took the top spot overall, with a staggering $5,850,442 typical price for a starter home in March 2025.

Two new states joined the list this year: Rhode Island and Minnesota. New Shoreham, Rhode Island, the main town on Block Island, a popular summer destination, and Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota, a lakeside suburb of Minneapolis, reached the $1 million starter-home milestone.

Relatively expensive homes put many homebuyers in tough spots

Homeownership can feel frustratingly out of reach for anyone, but first-time homebuyers are particularly squeezed.

In 2024, the National Association of Realtors found that the median age of a first-time homebuyer hit an all-time high of 38. At the same time, first-time homebuyers made up only 24% of all transactions, a record low.

The median sales price of a US home in the US has risen by 42.5% in the past five years, according to real-estate site Redfin, from $302,487 in March 2020 to $431,078 in March 2025.

Mortgage rates are also relatively high, which makes borrowing money more difficult. Rising homeowners' insurance rates nationwide and increasingly pricey homeowners' association, or HOA, fees are additional costs that make homebuying even more expensive.

Increasing costs can lead potential buyers, like Virginia resident Lawrence Talej, to delay homebuying plans. Talej was in contract for a $315,000 house in 2019, but pulled out when maintenance issues arose. Four years later, the median price for a home in his suburb of Richmond jumped more than $100,000, according to Zillow, causing him to put his plans on hold.

"We're royally screwed," he told BI at the time.

Some people even feel their six-figure incomes aren't enough to comfortably purchase a home.

Last year, tech worker Madelyn Driver and her husband set out with a $700,000 budget and remote-work flexibility, looking at houses from Colorado to Pennsylvania. They told BI that finding a home that fit their budget and broad location preferences felt impossible.

"We're finding that even in a vast country like the US, housing options that align with our desires for green spaces, a somewhat metropolitan vibe, and cultural vibrancy are surprisingly out of budget," Driver said. In June 2024, Driver said they would keep looking for another year and then re-evaluate their search.

Even for the lucky ones who do manage to buy a home, it's not always smooth sailing.

First-time homebuyer Elsa said she felt pressure to buy a home in 2022, before she was ready. She and her husband purchased a $975,000 home in a Washington, DC, suburb, taking on credit card debt to keep up with the mortgage and other costs that cropped up.

"We definitely didn't anticipate having as many repair expenses. The house we bought is older, so we have been overwhelmed with repairs like multiple water leaks," she told BI.

• Green Bay, Wisconsin, is hosting the NFL Draft, with an expected 250,000 visitors coming to town.
• Some local Airbnb hosts expected to fetch rates four times that of a regular Packers game day.
• One host said she had to cut her Airbnb's nightly rate by over 80% from the initial price.

Airbnb host Matthew Bassuener owns a shrine to football in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

His unassuming ranch-style home — a 10-minute walk from Lambeau Field, home of the NFL's Packers — is decorated with an oversized mural of a vintage football game and memorabilia from Bassuener's own time as an Arena Football player.

When the NFL announced its annual draft would be in Green Bay, Bassuener was ecstatic. After reviewing projections from tools Airbnb hosts use to determine pricing, he listed his three-bedroom, two-bathroom Airbnb for $5,000 a night for the three-day event. A group booked it last July. For a typical Packers game, Bassuener will get around $1,200 a night.

In January, though, the group canceled, getting a full refund. Bassuener slowly slashed his rates until a new group booked at $2,250 for the whole weekend.

"It was definitely painful," Bassuener told Business Insider. "There are other hosts scrambling to get what they wanted."

On April 24, the NFL Draft kicks off in Green Bay, with an estimated 250,000 visitors descending on the city, according to ESPN. Some Airbnb hosts told Business Insider they had to adjust their initial sky-high expectations and cut nightly rates significantly to get bookings.

Hosts overall, though, are still seeing bigger-than-normal payouts. Airbnb and Vrbo hosts in Green Bay are projected to see an 846% increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2024, according to early data from short-term-rental analytics site AirDNA. Hosts told BI they just hoped their personal gains would be even bigger.

Short-term rental hosts often capitalize on major local sporting events and concerts, raising prices around the dates when more travelers are coming to town. Just ask the residents of Augusta, Georgia, who annually rent out their homes for Master's week, with some making enough during the annual golf tournament to pay for family vacations or cover their mortgage for the year.

The widespread use of online short-term rental booking platforms like Airbnb has created pop-up markets for big-dollar bookings. In 2023, the first leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour brought in more than $27 million for Airbnbs and Vrbos in the US, according to AirDNA.

Ahead of Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter tour, which kicks off next week, searches for Airbnbs in stops Houston and Atlanta went up by 620% and 400%, respectively, Airbnb told Axios in March.

Pinning hopes of profit to big events doesn't always pay off. Ahead of the 2023 Super Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona, some hosts were disappointed by demand and slashed prices. The city had recently experienced a surge in supply, with 21,000 Airbnbs and Vrbos opening.

Other Green Bay hosts have had to adjust their expectations

Green Bay native Nikki Engelbrecht owns two Airbnbs just outside the stadium: a five-bedroom she initially listed for $6,000 a night, and a three-bedroom she initially listed at $4,000 a night. They ended up booking at $2,500 and $650 a night, respectively.

Engelbrecht blamed the fickle nature of short-term rentals in Green Bay for the disconnect. For an off-season weekend, her rentals' rates will hover around $250 a night, but shoot up to $2,000 a night for a premier game.

"I think everybody just got really excited and thought, because it's the draft, they could charge $10,000," she told BI.

Michael Friedman, CEO Simple Life Rentals, which oversees 150 short-term units across Wisconsin, said one of its homes directly across from Lambeau Field rented at $3,200 a night for the whole draft after it was initially listed for $7,500.

Though he was disappointed, Friedman said he is still holding out hope. Because the NFL Draft is free, unlike a typical Packers game, some area fans from nearby cities like Detroit and Chicago might be keeping an eye on nightly rates to make a spontaneous trip, he added.

"I've talked to some people who said they're still waiting to see if the weather will be decent," Friedman said. "We're still hoping to get some bookings last minute."

• Some American towns and cities offer major incentives to lure people to move there.
• The perks, often aimed at qualifying remote workers, range from cash to free land to gift cards.
• Business Insider rounded up 21 places that compensate people to move there in some way.

Remote work and a search for affordable housing have reshaped where people live.

Cities across the US that might have previously flown under the radar are offering new residents big incentives, from cash to free land.

Lillian Griffith moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Alpharetta, Georgia, in August 2022 to take advantage of the Tulsa Remote program, which granted her $10,000 simply for relocating to the city.

"The Tulsa Remote program is not some elitist program that only accepts people who work in high-paying positions," Griffith, a data engineer, told Business Insider in 2023. "It's more about pulling people who can bring a good culture to the city."

New residents can boost the communities offering the incentives, too.

Perry County, Indiana, located an hour west of Louisville, Kentucky, offers qualifying new residents $7,000 split into two payments — $3,500 when they arrive and $3,500 after 12 months.

It's an investment in the region's future, said Shiraz Mukarram, manager at the Perry County Development Corporation.

"We do not want Perry County to be one of those statistics of a declining population. We want to make it grow," Mukarram told BI.

Since the program began in 2023, 16 families have moved to Perry County from states like Florida, Georgia, California, and Massachusetts with great success, Mukarram added. Just this past February, a high schooler whose family moved from Virginia was elected to the high school's Homecoming Court.

The perks offered vary from place to place. Hamilton, Ohio — a city of 63,000 about 20 miles north of Cincinnati — is courting recent college graduates with a program that offers up to $15,000 a year toward student-loan repayments. Meanwhile, Manilla, Iowa, a small town about 90 minutes west of Des Moines, offers relocators free plots of land to build houses.

Business Insider rounded up 21 places across the US that are dishing out perks to anyone who moves there, presented in alphabetical order.

Do you know of another city that pays people to move there? Did you get paid to move somewhere? We'd love to hear about it. Email reporter Jordan Pandy at [email protected].

A lottery program in Baltimore wants to reduce the upfront costs required for prospective residents to buy a home.

Buying Into Baltimore is a program that awards $5,000 in down-payment and closing-cost assistance to a few lucky prospective homebuyers who enter a lottery after attending a special Trolley Tour that is held three times a year. (The next one is Saturday, May 3.)

The prize is not limited to first-time homebuyers, but following the event, applicants have 10 business days to make an offer on a home, have the offer accepted, and obtain a contract of sale to be eligible to even enter the lottery.

A special note for remote workers considering making a move — the property must also be used as a primary residence.

A city on a lake in Minnesota wants to reimburse you for your relocation costs.

Bemidji, a 15,000-person city in northern Minnesota, has a program offering remote workers interested in moving to the area six months of free internet service, a one-year membership to a coworking space, a one-year membership to the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce, and free access to community programs and events.

To qualify, movers must work primarily from home and be relocating from at least 60 miles away.

Columbus, Georgia, will pay remote workers $5,000 to move there.

Columbus, a 200,000-person city on the Georgia-Alabama border, is offering $5,000 to remote workers who move there.

Together with MakeMyMove, a site that connects remote workers with places offering them incentives, Columbus also offers relocators other perks, including six months of time at a coworking space, coffee with the mayor, and a two-night hotel stay for a visit before your move.

The total package is worth $8,700, according to MakeMyMove.

In order to qualify for the program, you need to be employed full-time, earn at least $75,000, and live at least 75 miles outside Columbus at the time of the application.

A Kentucky nonprofit is trying to reverse population loss by offering $7,500 to people who move to one of 34 counties in the state.

The nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) was founded to reverse population loss in the rural, mountainous regions of Kentucky.

It offers relocation grants to remote workers, which include $5,000 for the worker who moves, plus an additional $2,500 bonus if their partner secures a job in education or healthcare.

Interested remote workers can move to any of 34 eligible counties in the eastern part of Kentucky; the swath includes a scenic network of canyons called the Red River Gorge and the Country Music Highway Museum, dedicated to artists from the region like Billy Ray Cyrus and The Judds.

Applicants must make $70,000 and currently reside outside Kentucky.

A small town in Indiana is offering "Grandparents on Demand" to movers and $5,000 to offset relocation costs.

Greensburg, a 10-square-mile Indiana town between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, is offering several incentives to potential movers.

The town worked with MakeMyMove to create the program, which offers anyone relocating to the area $5,000 cash, roughly $2,000 in gift cards to local businesses, a yearlong membership to a local coworking space and the YMCA, and access to childcare.

Greensburg's "Grandparents on Demand" program pairs newcomers with older adults in the area who can provide babysitting services or even act as stand-ins at school Grandparents Day free of charge.

Hamilton, Ohio, assists recent graduates with their student-loan payments.

Hamilton, Ohio — a city of 63,000 about 20 miles north of Cincinnati — is encouraging recent college graduates to apply for its Talent Attraction Program Scholarship.

Scholarship recipients can get up to $15,000 a year toward student loan payments. 

In order to qualify for the scholarship, you must have graduated from a STEAM (science, tech, engineering, the arts, or math) program within the last seven years. You must not already live in the city of Hamilton but have plans to move or live in what the city defines as one of its urban neighborhoods.

Applicants must demonstrate employment within Butler County or a full-time remote position. Preference is given to people "with a desire to give back to the community and become engaged in activities."

Applications are open until July 1 and are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Ketchikan, Alaska, pays up to $2,000 a year to live there and provides free internet.

Ketchikan, a scenic coastal city near the southernmost tip of Alaska that is a 90-minute flight from Seattle, launched the Choose Ketchikan program in November 2021.

Applicants over 18 must be "fully employed." To be eligible, an individual or family must currently live outside Alaska while working remotely for a company that is also outside Alaska.

After relocation, all Alaska residents get an annual payment from Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend, which can be as much as $3,000 a year or more.

Ketchikan, which touts its clean air and drinking water, is also offering new residents three months of free high-speed internet.

A quaint town in central Kansas is giving away free land to build your home on.

Lincoln, Kansas, a town of about 1,100, is offering free residential land plots just outside the city's downtown.

The city grants a deed to people who agree to build a home, which can range from 14,000 to 35,000 square feet, on one of the lots — as long as it meets certain design guidelines. 

Before building the house, the applicant must provide a deposit of 8 cents per square foot; the money is refunded upon completion of the home. It's a modest request since one contractor said the cost to build a custom home in the state starts at more than $100 per square foot.

Lincoln has a deep culture of history with museums such as the Post Rock Scout Museum and the Lincoln Historical Museum.

According to Live Lincoln County, you do not have to be a resident of Lincoln, or even the state of Kansas, to participate in the program. There are no rules against building a home for the sole purpose of reselling or flipping it.

The state of Maine offers student-loan repayment assistance to eligible college graduates.

Maine has said it can reimburse residents who graduated after 2007 through its student loan repayment tax credit program.

If you live in Maine during the tax year, you are likely eligible for a tax credit that could total up to $2,500 annually, up to $25,000 lifetime, toward student-loan payments.

Additional perks are available for graduates with STEM degrees, including the possibility of refunding the entirety of their state tax payments.

Manilla, Iowa, is offering free plots of land to people who will build homes on them.

Manilla — a small city in western Iowa — is offering free lots of land to anyone looking to build a single-family home.

Manilla is also eliminating taxes on the homes built on the "no cost lots" for the first five years.

A program in West Virginia is offering potential new residents $12,000 in cash.

West Virginia launched a program named Ascend WV to attract out-of-state remote workers to Morgantown, a vibrant college town home to West Virginia University.

To be eligible, potential residents must be 18 years or older, able to verify remote employment, and willing to move to the city of 30,000 for two years.

Those accepted to the program are expected to relocate to Morgantown within six months and receive $12,000 in cash in monthly installments. If people choose to purchase a home in West Virginia, they can get the remaining cash payments in a lump sum.

Other perks of the program include a coworking-space membership and free outdoor-gear rentals.

In addition to Morgantown, Ascend WV also incentivizes moves to other parts of West Virginia: the Greenbrier Valley, the Eastern Panhandle, the New River Gorge area, and Greater Elkins community.

Newton, Iowa, is offering homebuyers more than $10,000 to buy a house priced at $240,000 or more.

Newton, Iowa, about 30 miles east of Des Moines, wants to give relocators who purchase a home there cash upon closing.

The city is offering $10,000 in cash to buyers of homes valued at more than $240,000 and a five-year tax abatement for homes below that value. Eligible homes include single-family new builds that started construction in 2020 or 2021.

There's also a "Get to Know Newton Welcome Package" that includes gifts from local businesses and opportunities to attend local events, including at the Iowa Speedway.

A town outside Indianapolis is offering a $5,000 grant and other perks to new residents.

Located just 30 minutes from downtown Indianapolis, Noblesville is home to the Ruoff Music Center, the region's most significant outdoor concert venue.

The town is offering new residents a package that includes a $5,000 relocation grant, a $500 health and wellness stipend, and a one-year membership to a local coworking space, among other incentives.

Remote workers interested in the program must make at least $80,000 annually and be able to relocate within six months of applying.

A small Illinois town is offering $5,000 to movers looking for work.

Quincy, Illinois, a town of 40,000 on the Missouri border, has also launched a program to incentivize Americans to relocate there.

The Quincy Workforce Relocation Assistance Program, also called Quincy's Calling, offers movers who can get a job within the county a property-tax rebate of up to $5,000 after one year of living and working in the area.

If you would prefer to rent, you can get a rental rebate of up to $3,500 after six months of residency and employment.

Remote workers aren't eligible for the program. New residents must work in Adams County, where Quincy is.

A small county in Indiana is paying qualified remote workers $7,000.

Since 2023, Perry County has offered a cash incentive of $7,000 to qualifying remote workers and their families who move to the rural community. Located between Evansville, Illinois, and Louisville, Kentucky, along the Ohio River, Perry County has less than 20,000 residents, according to the most recent census data.

The $7,000 payment is split into two installments — one when families first move and another after 12 months. Families also receive a welcome basket that includes freebies from local fudge to discounted WiFi.

Eligible applicants must make $50,000 at a job they can retain when they move and be able to relocate within 6 months.

A handful of cities in Alabama are offering remote workers who move to the area $10,000 cash, paid out over a year.

The Shoals in Alabama — a cluster of municipalities including Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia that straddles the banks of the Tennessee River — is offering remote workers $10,000 to move to the area.

Near the border with Tennessee and Mississippi, the four cities are just a few hours from hubs including Memphis, Nashville, and Birmingham. 

The program offers $2,500 upfront for relocation costs, an additional $2,500 six months after moving there, and $5,000 at the end of the first year of residency.

Eligible applicants must be over 18 and able to move to the region within six months. They must also be employed outside the area and have a minimum annual income of $52,000.

Southwest Michigan is offering remote workers $15,000 toward a down payment on a home, along with other perks.

A string of ZIP codes in southwest Michigan is looking to entice people with up to $15,000 to put toward a home purchase and more than $5,000 in additional perks. Those extras include memberships to athletic clubs, driving ranges, coworking spaces, and more.

Applicants to the Move to Michigan program must be willing to purchase a $200,000 home in the region, which is on the shores of Lake Michigan.

They must also be willing to become a full-time Michigander by securing a Michigan driver's license and claiming the state as their primary residence.

Applicants must also have current full-time, remote employment outside Michigan.

Sign up for the program's newsletter for updates.

Texarkana, which straddles Texas and Arkansas, offers a $5,000 relocation bonus to new residents.

Texarkana is a pair of neighboring twin cities with the same name in both states it straddles: Texas and Arkansas.

The cities have separate municipal governments but often operate as one metropolitan region. It has a joint offer for remote workers moving to either city.

Texarkana is offering a $5,000 relocation bonus along with other incentives, including free tickets to the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and a 25% tuition discount at Texas A&M at Texarkana, the local four-year public university.

Eligible applicants must make at least $75,000 a year. They must reside outside the state of Arkansas or, if a Texas resident, at least 75 miles from Texarkana.

Topeka, Kansas, is offering potential new residents up to $15,000 to move there.

Kansas' state capital has teamed up with employers to offer cash to those willing to move there.

Participants of the program, called Choose Topeka, can receive up to $15,000 if they purchase a home in Topeka and secure a job in the area. Remote workers with employment outside the area can earn up to $5,000 toward rental costs or $10,000 toward a home purchase.

As an added bonus, Jimmy John's, the sandwich franchise, throws in an extra $1,000 for anyone who moves within delivery range of one of its shops.

Tucson, Arizona, is offering remote workers perks and services worth about $7,500.

A local economic-development organization launched Remote Tucson during the pandemic to lure remote workers to the area.

The program offers relocators $1,500 toward moving costs, one year of free internet, free trials at local coworking spaces, membership to a local cultural institution, networking opportunities, and more.

Eligible applicants must be over 18 years old, have full-time remote employment outside the area, and be able to move to Tucson within six months.

Tulsa Remote, one of the country's most well-known incentive programs, offers remote workers $10,000 grants.

Tulsa Remote, a program that started in 2018, is designed to draw new residents to Oklahoma. Since 2018, the program has helped more than 1,400 people relocate to Tulsa.

The program offers $10,000, which people can put toward purchasing or renting a home in Tulsa. It also offers $500 travel reimbursements and a $150 Airbnb credit for applicants to familiarize themselves with the area.

Insider previously interviewed four folks who hailed from major cities on both US coasts and made the move to Tulsa; most said it was a fantastic decision.

To qualify for the program, applicants must be over 18 and live outside Oklahoma. They must also prove a consistent stream of income and the ability to work remotely. Applicants must also promise to commit to moving to and living in Tulsa for at least one year.

Taylor Borden, Libertina Brandt, and Leanna Garfield contributed to previous versions of this story.

• The number of Canadians traveling and booking Airbnbs in the US dropped 12% in March year over year.
• The decrease is consistent with dips in flight bookings and car travel to the US.
• It's another sign Canadians are pulling back on US travel as tariff tensions grow.

The number of Canadians staying at Airbnbs in the US dropped sharply last month, according to new data from AirDNA, a site that analyzes the short-term-rental market.

In March, there was a 12.1% decrease in nights booked by Canadian travelers compared with March 2024.

Canadians have been pulling back on travel to the US in response to growing tensions between the two countries over tariffs announced in January by President Donald Trump.

The short-term-rental market as a whole stayed steady in March, with average revenue per listing rising 1.3% compared with last year. Canadian travelers make up only a small portion of the overall US short-term-rental market, with just 2.6% of all bookings last year.

It's unclear whether the decline recorded in March will persist in April and beyond. Canadians booked US short-term rentals at slightly higher rates in January and February 2025 compared with the same months in 2024.

But Canadians hold a greater market share in certain destinations close to the US's northern border, including Buffalo, New York, and Bellingham, Washington, along with popular destinations for snowbirds, such as Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"It may not affect the industry uniformly, but some places are going to see more impacts," an AirDNA economist, Bram Gallagher, told Business Insider.

Airbnb declined to comment.

Some Canadians are canceling trips to the US and expressing their patriotism

In February, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged Canadians to reconsider travel plans to the US and instead support domestic tourism.

It seems some Canadians have heeded his call.

The number of Canadians driving to the US in February fell 23% compared with the previous year, according to Statistics Canada data. In March, the travel firm OAG said bookings on flights to the US from Canada had dropped more than 70% year over year for April through September.

An Airbnb host in Palm Springs, California, told Business Insider in March that a longtime, regular Canadian guest had abruptly left his California vacation that month and canceled a coming $7,000 reservation.

"I'm having real trouble sleeping here right now. I'm cutting my stay short and am going home to Canada," the guest wrote in an email to the host, Robert Carlson.

Carlson said he was worried that a Canadian couple with a $17,000 reservation later in the year might follow suit.

The US Travel Association estimated that a 10% decrease in Canadian travel could result in 14,000 job losses and $2.1 billion in lost spending in 2025.

Some Canadians, meanwhile, are feeling a sense of strong sense of national pride. A Toronto consultant, Dylan Lobo, told Business Insider there had been a massive spike in traffic on his website, Made in CA, an online directory of Canadian-made goods.

Since January, he said, there had been days when site traffic tripled overnight. The biggest surge came on February 1, when Trump imposed 25% tariffs on most Canadian goods, and traffic reached 100,000-plus visitors, he said. BI couldn't independently verify Made in CA's readership.

"There's a lot of patriotism right now in this country," Lobo said.

Gallagher, of AirDNA, suggested that worried Airbnb hosts in the US could promote themselves as sympathetic to Canadian travelers.

"It could turn into something you market around, expressing solidarity for Canadian visitors," he said.

• General contractor Eduardo Barboza says pricing uncertainty caused by the tariffs have disrupted his business.
• Investors are choosing to pull out of renovation projects as costs have gone up.
• Barboza is paying his employees to work on his own to keep them busy through the downturn.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with general contractor Eduardo Barboza, 41, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Barboza has been in the construction industry for 22 years and has owned a business for 10 years. He's seen a significant disruption to his business since the Trump administration announced plans for new tariffs in January. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The full impacts of the tariffs haven't developed yet, but we're already dealing with pricing uncertainty. It's created a lot of unknowns, which is making it very hard to do business.

We had a pretty good system for estimates. Everything was based on our records.

Someone would come to us with a bathroom project, and we knew it'd be around $5,000. Now, we can't say for sure. The flooring, the tile, it could all go up overnight.

Now, every piece of the project has to be dissected. Turnaround for estimates is up from 24 hours to 72 hours. I've even had to assign an extra person just for pricing. That's money and time we lose as a business.

Some owners are mad at me right now. We were contracted in November to do the the main electrical service on an 84-unit building in Glendale. There were 15 banks of electric meters we had to replace and each one went up in price. It was very hard to go to the client and said, "Hey, by the way, that $225,000 project is now going to cost you $278,000."

The owner didn't cancel that project, mostly because it was required maintenance. Any other kind of project is in serious jeopardy.

Investors are walking away from renovations

Instead of renovating homes to flip, investors are just selling homes as is, which hurts our business. Just in the past week, we lost two major projects.

One was a $1.3 million house in Scottsdale. As we were doing the pricing, flooring went up $1 per square foot, tile went up 36 cents per square foot, cabinets went up 10% and then an extra 10% like a week later. So we had to bump up the price to $143,000. The investor decided to keep the home as is.

We had the same scenario with a $1.5 million house in Scottsdale that needed a little over $326,000 worth of renovations. With the current market, renovation at that scale didn't make sense for the investor.

Those were jobs we had in the bag, we were just waiting to start. That's almost $470,000 and just came off of our books in seven days.

I'm paying my team to work on my home to weather the slowdown

It costs a lot of money to build a good team, and I'll do anything I can to keep them.

Finding new business is my job. So if I don't have jobs lined up for the week, my employees still all get paid for that week. It's not their fault. It's mine.

This week I told them come to my house. I'm going to pay them anyways, so I said let's finish up the projects I've been pushing off. I have a crew laying down concrete pavers around my pool. It's costing me around $3,800 for the week.

We've been through moments like this before. It's a return to the mindset we had during the 2008 recession or the early days of the pandemic.

When times get tough like this it's a mentality of "screw the profits," every decision is just survival to stay afloat. Can we just make enough to keep the guys paid? We can worry about profits at another time.

As the leader of my business, I can't bring fear to my team.

• Increases in homeowner's insurance are a national trend, not just isolated to a few states.
• Natural disasters like hail in the Midwest and tornadoes in the South are putting a strain on insurers.
• Louisiana and California are expected to see average increases of over 20%.

Home insurance rates are expected to rise across the country by the end of the year, according to a new study released by the digital insurance platform Insurify.

The annual cost of homeowner's insurance is projected to increase 8%, to a national average of $3,520.

However, some states like Louisiana, Iowa, and Hawaii are expected to see increases greater than 17%.

"This is a group of states that insurers are catching up to the perceived risk that has accumulated," Insurify data expert Matt Brannon told Business Insider.

Insurance companies have incurred massive losses in recent years, as natural disasters have increased in frequency and severity, Brannon explained.

In 2024, there were 27 billion-dollar disasters in the US, which is topped only by a record-breaking 28 disasters in 2023.

Hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes are common culprits but there are other growing threats, like hail.

"Insurance commissioners in multiple states in the Midwest are saying that hail is becoming an increasing problem for home insurers," Brannon said. "Hail can inflict a lot of damage on roofs, and we know that roofs are very expensive to get replaced."

Below are the nine states where homeowner's insurance rates are expected to rise the most by the end of the year.

9. Colorado

Hail is an increasing concern in Colorado and is a primary reason for recent premium hikes in the state.

Denver roofer Said Ahmad told BI this year that the storms—and the damage they cause—have gotten significantly worse over his 18-year career.

"When I first got into the business, if you had a $10,000 claim, that was considered big. Now, all of them are almost at least that," Ahmad said.

Projected increase in 2025: 11%

Average annual premium in 2024: $6,630

Projected annual premium for 2025: $5,984

8. Oregon

Though California, its neighbor to the south, may be better known for its wildfire risk, significant disasters have also struck Oregon. Last year, a record-breaking 1.9 million acres burned in the state, destroying 40 homes and 132 other structures, state officials said.

Projected increase in 2025: 12%

Average annual premium in 2024: $1,617

Projected annual premium for 2025: $1,807

7. South Dakota

Like other Midwestern states, hail is a significant risk for South Dakota homes. The world-record for the largest hailstone was in Vivian, South Dakota, a small town, where an 8-inch diameter hailstone was recorded in 2010.

Projected increase in 2025: 13%

Average annual premium in 2024: $3,596

Projected annual premium for 2025: $4,061

6. Arkansas

Some research shows that the traditional Tornado Alley, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, is shifting eastward into states like Arkansas. In May 2024, Arkansas experienced a state record of 17 tornadoes in one day, according to the National Weather Service.

The state is also considered at high risk for ice storms, the Insurify report noted.

Projected increase in 2025: 13%

Average annual premium in 2024: $4,490

Projected annual premium for 2025: $5,077

5. Minnesota

Worsening hail storms in Minnesota are directly tied to increasing insurance rates.

"We're having bigger storms. We're having these hailstorms that just cause a lot of claims damage," Minnesota insurance official Grace Arnold told local news outlet NBC 11.

In August 2024, a 6-inch diameter hailstone found in Chokio, Minnesota tied the state record.

Projected increase in 2025: 15%

Average annual premium in 2024: $3,524

Projected annual premium for 2025: $4,058

4. Hawaii

"Hawaii's increase is mainly driven by the 2023 Maui fires," Brannon said. The deadly fires claimed over 111 lives and were partially driven by a sudden, intense drought on the island.

The estimated cost of recovery is expected to exceed $12 billion, the local newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, reported.

Projected increase in 2025: 17%

Average annual premium in 2024: $1,548

Projected annual premium for 2025: $1,808

3. Iowa

Iowa has seen an 80% increase in major hail events between 2022 and 2024, according to Insurify.

In 2021, a hail storm in Larchwood, Iowa, located about 4 hours north of Des Moines, caused damages around $20,000 in claims for many homes, according to local newspaper The Des Moines Register.

Projected increase in 2025: 19%

Average annual premium in 2024: $3,201

Projected annual premium for 2025: $3,825

2. California

The impacts of the Los Angeles fires this past January, estimated to cost at least $250 billion in damages, are already being felt. Insurance company State Farm has asked California officials for emergency permission to raise rates by an average of 22%.

"Insurance will cost more for customers in California going forward because the risk is greater in California," State Farm said in a letter.

Projected increase in 2025: 21%

Average annual premium in 2024: $2,424

Projected annual premium for 2025: $2,930

1. Louisiana

Hurricanes are the major risk factor for Louisiana and four cities in the state rank in the top 10 most expensive cities for homeowner's insurance, according to Insurify.

Marrero, Thibodaux, New Orleans, and Kenner are all expected to see average premiums totaling more than $17,000 by the end of the year.

Projected increase in 2025: 27%

Average annual premium in 2024: $10,964

Projected annual premium for 2025: $13,937

• New vacation rental company Savvy took a swipe at Airbnb and Vrbo with its new Texas billboard.
• The company chose a spot near Vrbo's Austin office, mimicking Vrbo's recent sign targeting Airbnb.
• Savvy is emphasizing its no-fee model to lure hosts and guests away from the two bigger platforms.

Just in time for summer, a rivalry between vacation-rental companies is brewing.

Last month, Vrbo crowned itself the "hotter, cooler, friendlier" platform with a billboard teasing rival Airbnb. Vrbo put the billboard right outside Airbnb's San Francisco headquarters.

Now Savvy, a brand-new vacation rental company, is taking a shot at both of its much-bigger rivals.

Savvy placed a billboard close to Vrbo's Austin headquarters to drive home its "no-fee" model, mimicking Vrbo's own playbook for poking fun at Airbnb.

Savvy — an Austin-based startup with 13 employees that launched in February — promises no fees for hosts to list their properties for rent or for guests to book with them.

"As the new kid on the block, we thought it would be fun," Savvy founder Eric Goldreyer told Business Insider.

Savvy has 150,000 properties across US, Canada, Mexico, Goldreyer said.

It has a long way to go before catching up with its competitors. In 2024, Airbnb said it had 7.7 million listings around the world, while Vrbo said it had more than 2 million.

Goldreyer said he thought focusing on fees was a way to capitalize on common customer gripes about Airbnb and Vrbo.

"What customers really care about is saving money on their stay," he said.

Airbnb called Vrbo's sign "desperate," though Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky did post a laughing emoji on Instagram in response to it. Airbnb and Vrbo both declined to comment on Savvy's billboard.

Savvy is trying to draw attention to its no-fee model

Fees on Airbnb have been a sticking point for guests and hosts over the years, with some saying rising costs made them quit booking via the platform altogether. Airbnb has gone to extra lengths to make sure guests can easily see the total price of a stay including cleaning fees and taxes.

Airbnb primarily uses a split-fee model, where the most common arrangement is a 3% service fee for hosts and a fee around 14% for guests. Vrbo charges hosts a 5% fee and guests up to 20%.

Hosts list their properties for free on Savvy, and guests don't incur booking fees, Goldreyer said.

However, hosts can choose to pay for a subscription that boosts how prominently their home is featured on Savvy. Current subscription packages range from $5 to $20 a month, Goldreyer said.

Savvy is primarily targeting larger-scale rental operators to grow its listing base.

The platform only registers professional short-term-rental hosts who have at least five properties and use formal booking software, among other requirements.

Goldreyer said Savvy wants a consistent experience for guests.

"We don't want people that host as their side hustle," he explained. "We want to know if our guest gets there at 11 p.m. and the Bluetooth lock goes out, there's a professional they can call."

• Photographer Whitney Boykin rents out her home each year for the Masters golf tournament.
• Boykin, her husband, and their two kids pile into an RV while guests stay in their home.
• They spend $5,000 getting the house ready, but the eight-day booking pays their mortgage for a year.

This week, golf's greatest stars descend on the tiny city of Augusta, Georgia, in pursuit of the famous green jacket awarded to winners of the Masters Tournament.

It's also time for photographer Whitney Boykin and her family to pile into their camper to make way for the guests renting their home in North Augusta, South Carolina.

"I'm one of the rare locals who says I love Masters week. I just want visitors to see how amazing it is here," Boykin told Business Insider.

Boykin and other locals rent out their properties to golfers and visitors directly, on Airbnb, or via other platforms. In the city of Augusta alone, the number of rentals jumped from 725 in March 2024 to 1,700 in April 2024, data from short-term-rental analytics site AirDNA shows. The average revenue for rentals in the city jumped from $2,700 in March 2024 to $5,300 in April 2024, AirDNA found.

While Boykin declined to share exactly how much she makes, she said it's enough to cover the family's mortgage payments for a year. This is the seventh year the family is renting out their house for the Masters.

As of April 4, homes similar to Boykin's listed on Airbnb were available to rent from about $9,000 a week to $28,000 a week.

For Boykin, one week of sleeping in a camper with her husband, their two kids, their cat, and their dog is more than worth it. Take a look inside the home they rent out during the Masters.

Whitney Boykin and her family moved into their North Augusta, South Carolina home in December 2020.

The house, just over the state line from Georgia, has five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, two half bathrooms, and a large outdoor space designed for entertaining.

The home is a 12-minute drive to Augusta National Golf Course. But during Masters week, traffic adds up to about 30 minutes.

Boykin said she passes the Augusta National Golf Club when she drives her kids to school.

"The rest of the year, it's just not that big of a deal," she said.

Boykin said many North Augusta locals rent out their homes for the Masters and use the money to go on vacation for a week.

Area schools typically schedule spring break to sync up with the tournament.

"Everyone looks forward to this because it's great money," Boykin told Business Insider.

In the past, Boykin has used Airbnb and Vrbo to rent out the home. There is even a local rental agency dedicated to the event called the Masters Housing Bureau.

For the past two years, Boykin's family has rented their house to a Texas company that brings its employees to the tournament.

Boykin was connected with the company through a local friend.

In January each year, Boykin starts to think about getting the house ready for the Masters. The family spends about $5,000 to prepare it for renters.

"Once the Christmas lights get put away, it's time to get ready," she said.

Preparations include pressure-washing the facade, adding new landscaping, and getting the home professionally deep-cleaned.

Boykin stores all her seasonal Masters gear in a section of the attic that's off-limits to the rest of the family.

She keeps paraphernalia including flags, pillows, and golf supplies with the Masters logo locked away for most the year, along with special sets of crisp, white linens for the bedrooms.

"My kids know which sheets are Masters ones. We don't touch them," she said.

Guests arrive the Sunday before the tournament begins and pay for an eight-day stay that includes the Monday after the finals.

Local schools have extended spring break, Boykin added, with kids returning to the classroom on the Tuesday after the tournament.

Boykin likes to check on the home twice during the week to clean and make sure everything is OK.

Boykin said cleaning visits are more for her peace of mind because they've rarely had issues. Visitors in town for the Masters often try to maximize their time at the golf course.

"They're not spending a lot of time in our home," Boykin said. "They take care of our things better than we do."

Other families renting out their homes travel, but Boykin's family stays in an RV for Masters week.

Boykin's husband, who works in the car industry, is especially busy in early April.

This year, the family will park the RV at a local equestrian facility that has dozens of walking trails.

Boykin's family first stayed in a camper one year when their home was still accidentally listed for rent in July.

Out-of-towners rented their house for a youth basketball tournament called Peach Jam.

Even though the family had no plans to rent out their house for any time other than the Masters, Boykin said her husband felt it was worth it.

He drove to Myrtle Beach to pick up an RV he found online so the family could honor the booking.

Boykin added that he told her it would allow them to take "an extra vacation."

• Devon Zuegel, a San Francisco tech worker, longed to live in more of a community.
• She is building Esmeralda, a small city in Sonoma Wine Country.
• She hosts Edge Esmeralda, a pop-up event to give people an idea of what Esmeralda could look like.

Devon Zuegel graduated from Stanford and moved to San Francisco in 2016 for her software engineering career. Then, the pandemic hit.

Zuegel and her husband temporarily relocated to Chautauqua, the New York lake resort town where her grandmother lived, and Zuegel visited as a child.

In the summer, the tiny village blossoms into a kind of utopia — walkable, family-friendly, and brimming with culture. Up to 7,500 people flock to spend their days hopping between plays, symphony performances, and lectures.

One night, Zuegel's husband wondered aloud: "Why aren't there more places like this?" That moment is "burned into my retinas," Zuegel told Business Insider.

That was the start of Esmeralda, a small town Zuegel is building in the Sonoma Wine Country, about 90 minutes north of San Francisco. Zuegel drew inspiration from Chautauqua and similar walkable communities, such as Vail in Colorado, Charleston in South Carolina, and Arizona's new car-free neighborhood.

The goal, Zuegel told BI, is to build a primarily walkable and bikeable town within the city of Cloverdale, revitalizing an existing community rather than building one from scratch. At the same time, Esmeralda would offer something new: regular opportunities for residents to connect.

Esmeralda speaks to a larger trend of millennials seeking more variety in where they live, whether they'releaving larger cities — or building their own.

Esmeralda is the latest American experiment in intentional living

Zuegel wants to build Esmeralda incrementally, inviting prospective town members to come together to share their visions and hopes for a new way of life.

A key lesson she learned from Chautauqua's town archivist was its slow-growth model. The summer camp, founded in 1874 as a retreat for teachers, took time to grow into a full-fledged town. After several years of people pitching up tents, participants started to bring their families and upgraded to more permanent shacks.

America has a long history of intentional communities, where like-minded individuals band together, believing they've cracked the code for a better life. In most cases, the community grows organically, shaped by the people who join.

In the 18th century, the Shakers, a Christian sect dedicated to pacifism and celibacy, established "utopias" throughout New England, emphasizing shared property. In the 19th century, the Transcendentalists, a philosophical movement, flocked to Brook Farm in Massachusetts, where famous writers Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller dabbled in "plain living."

Intentional communities surged in the 1960s and 1970s as counterculture movements fueled new communes of young people intent on "dropping out" of traditional society. Vermont, in particular, saw over 75 new communes, expert Yvonne Daley told Forbes, which changed the political spirit of the state.

Today, an estimated 3,500 intentional communities dot the US, according to the nonprofit Foundation for Intentional Community, with a broad definition spanning student co-ops, eco-living communities, and religious groups.

To shape her new town, Zuegel launched Edge Esmeralda, a monthlong pop-up event designed to give attendees a taste of what the real Esmeralda could be. In 2024, the retreat hosted over 1,300 people through 25 different program tracks on topics like AI and longevity. Attendees, who could stay for a day, a week, or a whole month, enjoyed various activities such as building a solar-powered A-frame house, joining a "neurotech" workshop, a hackathon, or taking in an art exhibit. Zuegel plans to host another Edge Esmeralda in 2025.

Canadian college student Anson Yu, who attended Edge Esmeralda as an energy fellow, told BI that the experience gave her hope that Zuegel's team could deliver on their vision. Days spent building the A-frame house, followed by nights of swing-dancing in the town square, made her feel like a special community was coming together.

"I felt like there could be spaces that exist like this, outside of the couple of city centers that already exist, and outside of college campuses," Yu said.

A millennial shift in priorities

Edge Esmeralda attendees represent many millennials who yearn for a greater sense of community.

In many ways, a community like Esmerelda is a natural response from members of the "job-hopping generation" who pioneered remote work. What if that dream of flexible living could include a stronger sense of community?

When millennials came into the workforce around the 2008 recession, we saw a shift in how young people viewed life and work, Dr. Katherine Loflin, a sociologist known as "The City Doctor," told Business Insider.

Appetite for jobs in manufacturing and utilities — ones that required a worker to live nearby — declined significantly between 1990 and 2015, according to the Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, demand for desk jobs swung up.

Loflin, who studies the characteristics that draw people to different places, said job seekers told her they craved flexibility and work-life balance. They didn't want to follow the conveyor belt into an industry that could crumble at any minute. They were more interested in developing transferable "soft skills" that could lead to bigger salary jumps and the option of remote work.

The pandemic turbocharged that trend: Suddenly, the fantasy of working from anywhere became a reality. But there was something missing. Big city life often felt lonely, with fewer opportunities to make easy connections, especially aswork became more remote. Some missed campus life, when they could easily befriend people they saw in class or on the quad.

"So many people refer to college as the best years of their lives," Zuegel said.

Because of the more effortless sense of community, Loflin said campus-like towns "harken back to a time where people felt alive, they felt in it together."

The isolation of the pandemic prompted Zuegel to think about cities and the ways they create or restrict access to community. "The pandemic kept people apart, but that actually showed us how much we need friends and family," she said.

Beta-testing a community

So far, some fellow tech workers are excited about Esmeralda and even see themselves living there. However, some online commenters have expressed skepticism toward Esmeralda, particularly concerning affordable housing, transportation, or if locals really want to share a home with wealthy VCs.

Loflin said it's common for city developers to overly focus on aesthetics, forgetting to consider other logistics, like long-term community building or accessible infrastructure.

Zuegel is aware of the issues that may come up, hence the slower timeline. "A lot of real estate developers' approach is they build it and then hope people will be a part of it," Zuegel said. "We want to take a much more incremental and gradual path."

She said the project is still in "phase 0," with hopes of involving the local Cloverdale community as much as possible.

Local residents are excited about the project, Cloverdale city manager Kevin Thompson told BI. For two decades, real estate developers have swept in and out of town with big ideas for the plot of land that Zuegel's team has contracted, only to burn out quickly.

Thompson said no group in recent years has gone this far in the due diligence process as Esmeralda's, which gives the locals hope that progress is happening.

"There's been a lot of tire kickers over the years," Thompson said. "We've never gotten to this point of anyone actually submitting any paperwork to change it."

Zuegel said the exact logistics of Esmeralda are subject to change as she continues to learn from Edge Esmeralda. Her vision involves a pedestrian-friendly community, safe for young kids to play outside on their own, and accessible enough for older adults. She also wants a mix of locals and visitors, as full-time residents will be the soul of Esmeralda.

Ultimately, the guiding light is for her to feel as she did in all her Chautauqua summers as a child. "The idea is the culture from a big city, but with sort of the small town charm."