The typical $1 million US home is 2,200 square feet and features four bedrooms
A potential buyer’s $1 million can purchase a mansion in smaller metros, while a million bucks in larger, coastal cities can only afford a nice condominium or row house, according to Zillow.
In Zillow’s latest analysis, the typical million-dollar US home is a detached, single-family house that’s about 2,200 square feet and has four bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms.
This kind of home is the standard for a $1 million home in 87 of 100 large cities. A detached, single-family house usually has at least three bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms. These homes typically range from around 1,400 square feet in Fremont, Calif., to over 7,000 square feet in El Paso.
A million dollars will buy a 5,000-square-foot mansion in nine major US cities, including four in Texas, two in Tennessee, and one each in North Carolina and Alabama.
"Owning a $1 million home was once a status symbol, but now, due to escalating home prices, it feels closer to the price of entry for homeownership in parts of the country," said Zillow Senior Economist Cheryl Young. "Nationwide, the typical $1 million home at 2,200 square feet may not be sufficient to impress colleagues or neighbors.”
Meanwhile, the single-family homes worth $1 million in Honolulu and California are less than 2,000 square feet.
It gets more modest in San Francisco, where the smallest million-dollar home is a 900-square-foot condo. But in Florida cities, including Miami, Naples, and Boca Raton, mid-size condos between 1,600 and 1,900 square feet are the norm.
To make the most of a million bucks, Zillow said that living outside of a metro area’s major city pays off. Buyers living in Washington, D.C., can trade in their 1,650 square-foot row house for a 4,700-square-foot home with five bedrooms in neighboring Silver Spring.
“Only in the most affordable markets, such as some in the south, will you find $1 million homes that verge on palatial, and the reality for some markets – particularly those on the coast and in California – is that $1 million homes often stand out more for their diminutive size given their hefty price tags,” Young said. “In New York and San Francisco, typical $1 million co-ops or condos top out at 1,000 square feet, and in San Francisco that only buys you one bedroom.”
Townhouses and row houses are also the standout $1 million homes in Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, while du-, tri-, and quadplexes worth $1 million are concentrated in Boston, New Orleans, and Long Beach, Calif.
“This proliferation of smaller $1 million homes in pricey markets points to how out of reach homeownership likely is for middle-class families or first-time buyers,” Young said. “Those hoping to own in those expensive markets are forced to move farther out from city centers, or to markets where you don't need $1 million to afford a home big enough for your needs."
