This Is The Cheapest Town In IL To Buy A House, Study Says

ILLINOIS — Could you live in Venice, a city in Madison County of Illinois, in the southwest part of the state?

Would your answer change if moving to Venice meant you could shave tens of thousands of dollars off the price of a home?

The personal finance website GOBankingRates used data from the Zillow Home Value Index and U.S. Census Bureau population data to find the places in all 50 states where houses are a steal.

According to Zillow, the average single-family home in the United States is valued at about $367,711. Compare that to $33,318 in Venice, where the population is 1,682.

While there are no homes currently listed on the market in Venice, for an example of real estate in the area, Zillow lists a home in Madison, located next door, for $94,900. The two bedroom, one bathroom home sits on a corner lot and has a fully fenced in yard, according to Zillow.

In Granite City, also located nearby to Venice, a "charming one-and-a-half-story home with a spacious yard," is on the market for $72,000. The home includes three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. "This home offers a great opportunity for buyers to personalize and make it their own," says Zillow.

The houses may be cheap, but what’s the community of Venice like?

According to the Southwestern Madison County Chamber of Commerce, Venice was founded in 1873, and was originally considered a village.

"The village, although small in size, had a large capacity for industry," the Chamber says of the early years before Venice became a city in 1893.

In the early 20th century, the McKinley Bridge was built, connecting Venice to the northern portions of St. Louis, Missouri, and crossing the Mississippi River.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Venice has a total area of 1.85 square miles.

In May, Governor JB Pritzker announced the state was investing $2.4 million to build a new, municipally owned grocery store in Venice "to address a lack of affordable grocery options."

The smallest place on the list is Brian Head, Utah. Originally known as Monument Peak, a town of 49 with a history rooted in exploration and logging. Also with populations under 100 are a pair of former mining towns often described as “living ghost towns”: Austin, Nevada, population 47, and Johannesburg, California, population 77.

Other specks on the map with populations under 500 include Bly, Oregon (population 123); Davidson, Oklahoma (159); Medicine Lake, Montana (190); Kitzmiller, Maryland (192); Lyon Mountain, New York (240); Drake North Dakota (245); Mystic, Iowa (257); Roxobel, North Carolina (347); Whiteface, Texas (390); Bowie, Arizona (399); Elmore, Minnesota (442); Pierce, Idaho (465); and Lind, Washington (491).