Camas lands on list of top cities for home ownership

Camas was recently named one of the top cities in Washington to own a home.

NerdWallet, a consumer advocacy website, conducted a study to find the top 20 best places for home ownership in Washington. Rankings were based on home ownership rates, selected monthly homeowner costs, monthly household income and population growth.

“We measured population growth to ensure that the area is attracting new residents and showing signs of solid growth,” said an article by NerdWallet’s Chip Olsen. “This is likely a signal of a robust local economy, which is another attractive characteristic for home buyers.”

Camas ranked 11th of the 86 communities with populations greater than 15,000 that were evaluated.

Camas’ home ownership rate is 79.7 percent, and median monthly homeowner costs are $2,127 (31.8 percent of household income is spent on homeowner costs). The median monthly household income in Camas is $6,682, and the median home value is $315,100. Camas, which currently has an estimated population of 20,200, grew by 6.2 percent between 2010 and 2012.

The top five cities on the NerdWallet list were listed as Union Hill/Novelty Hill near Seattle, Mill Creek East near Everett, Burien near Seattle, and Maple Valley and Graham, both near Tacoma. The other Clark County area to make the list is the Five Corners community near Vancouver, which was ranked 13th.

Camas was also recently named one of the state’s safest cities. In a February report conducted by SafeWise, a community focused security organization, Camas ranked 18th out of the 50 cities that made the list, while Washougal ranked 22nd. According to SafeWise’s research, the chance of becoming a victim of crime in Camas is one in 1,659, a stark contrast to the state odds of one in 338.For more information about the NerdWallet report, visit http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2014/best-cities-homeownership-washington.