The 25 Best Affordable Suburbs in the U.S. [slideshow link]

Buying your first house? Fleeing the city for a life within your means?

Here's a novel idea: Move to a suburb where you won't break the bank or get your car broken into. A community with reasonable home prices and decent schools. A suburb close to your city job, with a lively downtown of its own.

For hedge-fund managers, plastic surgeons, corporate lawyers, and other people who earn millions a year, choosing a suburb is not about affordability but convenience and, frankly, prestige.

These folks don't balk at high prices or look for fixer-uppers. They can pay for prime real estate on the most exclusive streets in the fanciest towns with the best schools. If they want to live in Greenwich or Brookline or Lake Forest or Malibu, they can. Unfortunately, most people aren't so lucky.

Most people have to balance their real estate aspirations with reality -- compromising on acreage or culture in exchange for better schools or lower property taxes.

But that's no reason to give up and settle. Sure, you might own the cheapest house in a top suburb, but is that really worth it? Wouldn't it be better if you could live in a decent house and still send your kids to a good school?