5 cool beach towns where you can buy a home for $275,000 or less

Missing those beachy Memorial Day weekend vibes? Yes, us too — and so we found five cool towns where you can buy a beach home for less than $275,000, and if you’re so inclined, you can see the lowest mortgage rates you may qualify for here.

If you want arts and culture mixed in with the beach: Rockland, Maine

Rockland is known for its working harbor. But it’s also a cultural center featuring institutions including the Farnsworth Art Museum, a 20,000-square-foot gallery that has one of the largest collections of sculptures by Louise Nevelson in the world, and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, which has helped artists living and working in Maine since 1952.

The city also hosts the five-day Maine Lobster Festival every August, which includes a seafood cooking contest, a parade and the “Maine Sea Goddess” coronation. Options for food are great if you love seafood, with restaurants including In Good Company and Hill’s Seafood Co. A budget of $245,000 will buy you a property like this light-filled three-bedroom house with views of the bay. But expect long, cold winters and brisk temperatures in the ocean even in the summer.

Median home value: $249,179
Population: 6,936
Cost of Living: 18% less than the U.S. average

If you want to be near water: Greenbackville, Virginia

Located just south of the Maryland state border on the Chincoteague Bay, Greenbackville primarily consists of Captain’s Cove Golf & Yacht Club, a residential community with walking trails, pools, a boat ramp, tennis courts and a library. Most of the properties here are yet to be built like this three-bedroom home for roughly $265,000, and include access to all of the amenities in the planned community. Older three-bedroom homes in the community are selling for approximately $225,000, and there are many other homes on the market for less. 

Cockle Point, a peninsula within the community, offers a small beach and swimming in the bay. If you want the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, which consists of 14,000 acres of beach and maritime forest, is roughly thirty minute drive away. Dining options center around the Marina Club and Tiki Bar in Captain’s Cove, but if you crave variety, there are seafood, Mexican and chain restaurants available in nearby Pocomoke City, Maryland.

Median home value: $231,654
Population: 35
Cost of Living: 16.0% lower than the U.S. average

If you want a quiet retreat — and are willing to do work on a house: Port St. Joe, Florida

Known as the “small town with a big heart,” Port St. Joe is located along North Florida’s Emerald Coast, which is thus named for its clear green waters. Sheltered from the Gulf by a peninsula, the small city offers ready access to the St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, which offers 20 miles of white sand beaches inhabited by wildlife. Other attractions include the Constitution Convention Museum State Park, which commemorates the site where Florida drafted its first constitution in 1838, and the Rockin M Ranch, where you can rent a horse to ride on the beach. Dining options in Port St. Joe veer towards the casual – and fun – with restaurants including the Krazyfish Grille and Shipwreck Raw Bar serving food that’s best tasted in flip flops. 

A budget of $244,000 will get you this beach bungalow just a block or so from the bay that needs some work, or a three-bedroom home in close proximity to the quaint downtown shopping area. Especially compared to nearby Panama City, life in Port St. Joe is relatively quiet – but like most towns on the Gulf Coast, prone to hurricanes.

Median home value: $394,844
Population: 3,609
Cost of Living: 0.7% lower than the U.S. average

If you love to be hiking, fishing and the great outdoors: Coos Bay, Oregon

Known as the gateway to Oregon’s Adventure Coast, which is named for its access to fishing, water sports, hiking areas and dramatic storm watching, Coos Bay is also renowned for its historic buildings, theaters, shops, restaurants and art galleries. Attractions include the Oregon Dunes, a 31,500-acre portion of the Siuslaw National Forest that boasts 500-foot-tall sand dunes, and the Shores Acres State Park, which was once the estate of a timber baron, and now features an array of plants and flowers planted on bluffs overlooking the ocean.

Spend your Saturdays at Community Day at the Coos Art Museum, and then have dinner at the Blue Heron Bistro, which serves traditional German food as well as local seafood. For a budget of $275,000, you can buy a small two-bedroom house near John Topits Park, a hiking area with two lakes, for example. 

Median home value: $335,626
Population: 15,985      
Cost of Living: 7% higher than the U.S. average

If you want to be on vacation 24-7: Christiansted, St, Croix, Virgin Islands

Located on the island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, you can buy a home for millions, but you can also buy plenty of houses for less than $245,000, including this three-bedroom home replete with mature fruit trees, and this five-bedroom home in need of serious repairs just a few blocks from the ocean.

Known as the boyhood residence of Alexander Hamilton, Christiansted is the largest of the two towns located on the island. With boutique hotels, eclectic shops and restaurants, Christiansted also has a local arts community as evinced by the Public Art Trail, which features bold artworks on sidewalks throughout the town. Notable eateries include the Rum Runners Restaurant, which is located on the waterfront, and Galangal, which serves Southeast Asian-fused-with-French cuisine. Due to its distance from the mainland, goods and services are a lot more expensive in the Virgin Islands, and internet and cell phone service can be spotty.

Median sale price: $320,000
Population: 1866
Cost of Living: 40.9% higher than the U.S. average