Texas town manages to keep it affordable

CHICAGO —  Men and women of middle management, I have two words for you: Killeen, Texas.

That would be the place to head to if you’re a middle-management type who’s looking for a housing bargain.

That’s because Coldwell Banker Real Estate’s annual Home Price Comparison index has ordained Killeen, which is in the center of the state, about 50 miles north of Austin, as the least expensive place for “your kind of people” to buy a home.

Each year, the firm calculates what it would cost to purchase an identical (and, obviously, hypothetical) 2,200-square-foot house with the following characteristics: four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a family room and a two-car garage.

The company looked at only 319 ZIP Codes that it has determined are in areas desired by middle managers.

Killeen claimed the top (or is it bottom?) spot because the aforementioned home there would cost $131,328, according to Coldwell Banker.

For the third year in a row, La Jolla claimed the dubious achievement of being the most expensive on the list. Move that same house from Killeen to La Jolla and it would cost $1.875 million.

To no one’s surprise, California claimed nine of the 10 priciest spots in the survey; the only outsider was Greenwich, Conn. If you absolutely must live in California, the survey suggests that Fresno, at $389,458, is the least-expensive option.