Zillow: 242 US Cities Have Starter Homes That Cost $1M

According to Zillow, 242 cities across the country now have “starter homes” costing at least $1 million.

Zillow reports that nationwide, the typical starter home is worth $198,659, up 1.7% from a year ago as the number of cities with million-dollar start homes has now grown to 242, up from 226 last year.

California still leads overall with 105 cities, and 26 states now have at least one city with million-dollar starter homes, up from nine before the pandemic. Before 2020, this list was made up almost entirely of coastal states; Colorado was the only interior state with a million-dollar starter home city. Now, Texas, Wyoming and Illinois, among others, have multiple such cities.

The New York City metro area, which includes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, leads all metro areas with 63 cities where a typical starter home costs $1 million or more. The San Francisco metro follows with 37, then Los Angeles (33), San Jose (13), Miami (8) and Seattle (8).

Key takeaways

• The number of cities where a typical starter home is worth $1 million or more has nearly tripled since before the pandemic, rising from 80 in February 2020 to a record 242 today.
• California still has the most cities with million-dollar starter homes, but New York and New Jersey are seeing the fastest growth.
• Nationwide, the typical starter home is worth $198,649, up 1.7% from a year ago.

To read the full report, click here.