Minneapolis was ranked one of the most affordable cities to own a home for middle- and upper-middle class families.

My wife and I recently started the house hunting process. We've been living in different apartments the past few years, and cost of rent continues to increase on us. We're living within our means, but with rent continuing to increase as much as it does, it will just be a matter of time before we're not.

So we decided to start looking into owning our own home. Of course, if you've been trying to buy or sell lately, you know for yourself that the market is crazy right now -- in favor of sellers but not so much for buyers. My wife and I looked at a home on a recent Thursday evening, and by the next day it was already off the market. Just a couple days later we found another home we liked and put in an offer. Unfortunately, several others did, too, and a bidding war erupted that we did not win.

One thing we've noticed as that the closer we look toward the Cities -- where we'd like to be -- the more expensive the homes get. Even county-to-county can have drastic differences in taxes and costs.

So it came as a bit of a surprise to find that Minneapolis still ranks as one of the most-affordable cities for Middle Class families.

According to LendingTree, Minneapolis is the 3rd and 2nd most affordable city for middle-middle class and upper-middle class families respectively to own a home in. The nation's largest online loan marketplace determined that Minneapolis and the surrounding metro area was one of the most affordable cities for a middle-class family to pay for a median-priced home.

Minneapolis trailed just behind Houston and Dallas as most affordable for middle-middle class families and just behind Washington D.C. for upper-middle class families.

For a full breakdown, see the graphs below: