In late July, LoopNet, the commercial listings site owned by CoStar, published a 2026 House Hacking Index ranking the 50 best cities for beginner investors buying 2-4 unit properties. In mid-August it started syndicating across news sites, which is probably how it reached you. Their number one city is Indianapolis. Their top seven lean hard on the Midwest and Rust Belt.
What my index measures instead
I keep a competing list. The Foothold Score covers 83 metros and currently ranks Rochester, New York first. Only three cities show up on both: Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Memphis, via LoopNet’s most-affordable ten. When two data projects disagree that completely, one of them is broken or they are answering different questions. I spent an afternoon inside their methodology, and the answer is the second one. It is worth understanding which question is yours before you act on either list.
What LoopNet actually measured
LoopNet scored cities on eight variables, led by gross rental yield from May 2026 listings; Indianapolis won at $124,750 per unit and a 15.28 percent yield.
Their method is clearly documented and internally sound. They scored cities on eight variables: median price per unit, FHA accessibility (FHA is the Federal Housing Administration loan program most first-time house hackers use), gross rental yield, vacancy, renter income-to-rent ratio, five-year population change, property tax rate, and the landlord regulatory environment. Prices come from active LoopNet listings as of May 2026, rents and vacancy from Census survey data.
How gross yield drives the LoopNet ranking
The engine of the ranking is gross yield: a year of median rent from the units you do not live in, divided by the listing price. Indianapolis wins with $124,750 per unit and a 15.28 percent gross yield. To their credit, LoopNet flags the limitation themselves: gross yield is calculated before operating expenses and should not be read as net operating income. It is also calculated before the largest number in an owner-occupant’s life, the mortgage payment.
The same cities, after the mortgage
Under owner-occupant math, five of LoopNet’s top seven lose money monthly: Indianapolis −$645, Cincinnati −$1,385, Jacksonville −$1,157, Baltimore −$583, Bakersfield −$1,866.
The Foothold Score asks a narrower question: if you buy a screened, livable 2-4 unit building in this metro with a realistic first-time-buyer loan and live in one unit, how much of your housing cost does the other unit’s rent actually erase, and what do you keep each month after principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and a maintenance reserve. Here is LoopNet’s top seven under that math, from the live dataset as of August 14, 2026.
| LoopNet rank | City | Their headline stat | Kept cash per month (Foothold, 8/14/26) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indianapolis, IN | 15.28% gross yield | −$645 |
| 2 | Cincinnati, OH | $82,917 per unit | −$1,385 |
| 3 | Detroit, MI | 14.3% gross yield | +$337, but see below |
| 4 | Colorado Springs, CO | 8% yield, 3% vacancy | not covered (83-metro set) |
| 5 | Jacksonville, FL | 11% gross yield | −$1,157 |
| 6 | Baltimore, MD | affordability | −$583 |
| 7 | Bakersfield, CA | affordability | −$1,866 |
Five of their top seven are negative. That is not a contradiction of their index, it is what happens when a gross figure meets a mortgage. A 15 percent gross yield on a cheap building can still leave the owner writing a check every month once financing, taxes, insurance, and upkeep are in the arithmetic. The index measures the engine. Kept cash measures whether the car moves.
Detroit is the interesting one
Detroit keeps +$337 a month, the only LoopNet favorite in positive territory, but only one screened listing survived, so it stays unranked as thin data.
Why Detroit is the exception
Detroit is the only LoopNet favorite that keeps positive cash in my data, at +$337 a month. I still do not rank it, and the reason matters more than the number: after screening listings for basic livability and data quality, exactly one Detroit listing survived. One listing is an anecdote, not a market. LoopNet’s own threshold for including a city is five active listings, and their caveat that listing data may not represent the full market applies to both of us. Thin data is the third possibility between a good market and a bad one, and it deserves its own label.
Where the two lists agree
Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Memphis sit in LoopNet’s most affordable ten and rank #4, #6 and #11 on Foothold; Cleveland keeps +$333 a month, Pittsburgh +$163.
The overlap is the most useful signal in this whole comparison. LoopNet’s ten most affordable cities include Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Memphis. Those are Foothold’s #4, #6, and #11: Cleveland keeps +$333 a month, Pittsburgh +$163, Memphis roughly breakeven. When a gross-yield model and a kept-cash model point at the same mid-priced Northern cities, that convergence is worth more than either list alone. My current top five, for the record: Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Cleveland, Youngstown.
What neither headline number tells an owner-occupant
Neither index counts entry cash. Down payment assistance varies by state; Indiana’s agency allows 2-4 unit homes when the extra units house family.
The variable neither index counts
Both indexes also skip the variable that most often decides whether a first purchase happens at all: entry cash. Down payment assistance varies wildly by state, and it changes the real ranking of these cities for a first-time buyer. Indianapolis is the sharpest example. It tops LoopNet’s list on yield, loses money monthly in my data, and yet Indiana’s housing agency confirmed to me in writing that its assistance can be used on 2-4 unit homes when the extra units house family rather than tenants. Whether that helps you depends entirely on which of those buyers you are. The full state-by-state picture is in the down payment assistance survey.
Which list should you use
Use LoopNet’s index if you invest for gross yield and can absorb negative months; use kept cash if you will live in the building on a first-time-buyer loan.
Which index to use, and when
If you are an investor hunting cheap gross yield and you can pay cash or absorb negative months while rents and values move, LoopNet’s index is a reasonable shopping map, and their data on taxes and landlord law is a real contribution. If you plan to live in the building, finance it with a normal first-time-buyer loan, and need the other unit to genuinely lower your cost of living, kept cash is the number that pays your bills, and the map looks very different. I publish the full 83-metro dataset, free, with every input visible, on the Foothold Score page.
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Sources
- LoopNet, House Hacking Index: The Best Cities for Beginner Investors (updated July 22, 2026; methodology and city figures read August 14, 2026)
- VanToVault, Foothold Score dataset, 83 metros (kept-cash figures as of August 14, 2026; downloadable CSV and JSON on the page)
Is Indianapolis a good city for house hacking in 2026?
It depends on which math you run. LoopNet ranks it first on gross yield (15.28 percent on their May 2026 listings). On owner-occupant math, a screened Indianapolis duplex kept negative $645 a month as of August 2026 after mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Investors and owner-occupants are buying different products in the same city.
What is the difference between gross yield and kept cash?
Gross yield is a year of rent divided by the purchase price, before any expenses and before the mortgage. Kept cash is what is left of the other unit’s rent each month after principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and a maintenance reserve. A building can score a high gross yield and still cost its owner-occupant money every month.
Which cities rank well on both the LoopNet index and the Foothold Score?
Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Memphis. They appear in LoopNet’s most-affordable ten and rank #4, #6, and #11 on the Foothold Score as of August 2026. When two different methodologies agree, that overlap is the strongest signal either list produces.
What is a house hacking index?
A house hacking index is defined as a ranking of metros scored on how well local duplex prices and rents work for an owner occupant, rather than on investor returns alone.