America's Most Affordable Places To Live

Courtney Pannell, 06.30.09, 04:00 PM EDT

Reasonably priced homes, everyday expenses and low unemployment make these cities manageable during recessionary times.

In Depth: America's Most Affordable Places To Live

Indianapolis boasts one of the country's most famous racetracks, the largest children's museum in the world, and was the setting for the 2005 drama Close To Home.

That's exactly what residents there might want to do--remain there--during these tough economic times. The 1.7 million-population metro area is among the country's most desirable places to live, based on measures of housing affordability, unemployment and cost of living.

There, 94.8% of homes are affordable to families earning the median income for the area, and unemployment is a relatively low 8.2% (the national rate has grown to 9.4%).