Personal Finance

The 15 cities where you can live really well on $60,000

Top cities where you can live well on a $60K salary
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Top cities where you can live well on a $60K salary

Looking to do better in the year ahead? That may simply boil down to where you choose to live.

The best places are likely the ones where you can find a job, earn a good salary and buy a nice home. In a 2016 report, job-hunting site Glassdoor calculated the top spots where your pay will go furthest, based on salaries and home values. The jobs site came up with a cost of living ratio — a city's median base salary divided by its median home value. (A higher ratio number is better.)

Noticeably missing are some of America's biggest cities. While you can certainly earn more in hubs like New York and San Francisco, fewer people can afford to buy a house or an apartment there.

Here are the top 15 places where an average paycheck goes a very long way and the quality of life is great (even without a view of the Golden Gate).

15. Atlanta

Cost of living ratio: 37%

Median base salary: $60,000

Median home value: $163,000

Number of open jobs: 90,739

The Underground in Atlanta.
Richard Cummins | Getty Images

14. Columbus, Ohio

Cost of living ratio: 37%

Median base salary: $57,000

Median home value: $154,600

Number of open jobs: 30,728

Columbus, Ohio
LarryKnupp | Getty Images

13. Oklahoma City

Cost of living ratio: 38%

Median base salary: $50,000

Median home value: $132,500

Number of open jobs: 16,388

A motorist fills her car with gas at a gas station near an oil field pumping rig in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Getty Images

12. Houston

Cost of living ratio: 38%

Median base salary: $65,000

Median home value: $172,100

Number of open jobs: 72,033

Aerial view of a neighborhood in Houston.
Thomas Northcut | Getty Images

11. Buffalo, NY

Cost of living ratio: 39%

Median base salary: $50,000

Median home value: $128,100

Number of open jobs: 13,599

The downtown area of Buffalo, New York.
Lonely Planet | Getty Images

10. Louisville, Ky

Cost of living ratio: 39%

Median base salary: $54,000

Median home value: $137,500

Number of open jobs: 22,693

Victorian mansions in Louisville, Kentucky.
Source: Old Louisville Neighborhood Council

9. Kansas City, Mo

Cost of living ratio: 39%

Median base salary: $58,000

Median home value: $147,500

Number of open jobs: 35,639

Kansas City, Missouri
Andrew Rich | Getty Images

8. Birmingham, Ala

Cost of living ratio: 40%

Median base salary: $50,800

Median home value: $128,000

Number of open jobs: 15,299

Visitors walk in front of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Hal Yeager | The Washington Post | Getty Images

7. Cincinnati

Cost of living ratio: 40%

Median base salary: $57,179

Median home value: $143,400

Number of open jobs: 32,605

Highway bridges heading into downtown Cincinnati.
William Manning | Getty Images

6. St. Louis

Cost of living ratio: 40%

Median base salary: $56,896

Median home value: $141,900

Number of open jobs: 35,300

St. Louis
DelensMode | Moment Open | Getty Images

5. Indianapolis

Cost of living ratio: 43%

Median base salary: $56,000

Median home value: $130,200

Number of open jobs: 33,090

Downtown Indianapolis
Education Images | UIG | Getty Images

4. Cleveland

Cost of living ratio: 44%

Median base salary: $55,000

Median home value: $125,500

Number of open jobs: 29,304

Pedestrians walk past restaurants and shops on East 4th Street in downtown Cleveland.
Ron Antonelli | Bloomberg | Getty Images

3. Pittsburgh

Cost of living ratio: 45%

Median base salary: $56,896

Median home value: $126,700

Number of open jobs: 46,379

A view of Pittsburgh
UniversalImagesGroup | Getty Images

2. Memphis, Tenn

Cost of living ratio: 46%

Median base salary: $52,000

Median home value: $112,100

Number of open jobs: 17,982

Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee.
Bruce Yuanyue Bi | Getty Images

1. Detroit

Cost of living ratio: 50%

Median base salary: $61,500

Median home value: $123,100

Number of open jobs: 54,808

People stand outside of a home for sale in the East English Village neighborhood of Detroit.
Joshua Lott | Getty Images