The US Has 550 'Million-Dollar Cities.' This State Accounts For 38% Of Them

It's a surprise to absolutely no one that housing prices continue to rise. Despite the highest interest rates in over 20 years creating slower sales and less demand, home prices have remained stubbornly high. In fact, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index, annual gains were up 6.3% in April 2024. This steady increase in home prices is largely due to a lack of available inventory, which has kept demand high and, consequently, prices as well. Without a change in this inventory, it's unlikely that housing prices will experience a drop anytime soon.

As Keith Gumbinger, vice president at online mortgage company HSH.com, explained to Forbes, "For the best possible outcome, we'd first need to see inventories of homes for sale turn considerably higher. This additional inventory, in turn, would ease the upward pressure on home prices, leveling them off or perhaps helping them to settle back somewhat from peak or near-peak levels."

Barring a sudden influx of inventory, home prices are more than likely going to continue creeping upward. Nowhere is this more clear than in the concept of "million-dollar cities" or U.S. cities where the typical home is worth $1 million (or more). In 2024, the country had 550 million-dollar cities, up from 491 in 2023. These cities, while scattered across the country, do tend to centralize in certain, seemingly more desirable, states (it's worth mentioning most of these states are coastal). Topping the list is California, which boasts 210 different million-dollar cities, or ~38% of the country's million-dollar cities.

California added 12 new million-dollar cities between February 2023 and 2024. Of the state's total million-dollar cities, 69 encompass the San Francisco metro area, while another 63 center around the Los Angeles metro area. In fact, of the top 10 metro areas with the most million-dollar cities, five are located in California, with 18 in the San Jose metro area, 10 in the San Diego metro area, and nine in the Santa Maria/Santa Barbara metro area. Of these, San Jose is the most expensive, with the mean price of a home sitting at $1,670,320 (per cost of living data from the Council for Community and Economic Research or C2ER). San Jose housing prices are 210% higher than the national average, while home prices are about 3.3 times more than the U.S. average.

The Golden State has more million-dollar cities than the next five states combined, highlighting the state's expensive housing market. According to data from the California Association of Realtors, the median price of a single-family home in California reached $900,720 in June 2024, a 7.5% increase over the same time in 2023. Plus, prices in the state can vary significantly depending on geography. Consider, the average price of a home on the Central Coast (which includes the Santa Maria/Santa Barbara metro area) is $1,072,000, whereas the average home price in the Inland Empire (Riverside, San Bernardino, etc.) is $600,000. For comparison, according to Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data, the national average price for homes sold in the first quarter of 2024 was $513,100. (Speaking of which, here are the five most expensive states to live in; California actually isn't first.)

Following California (when it comes to the number of million-dollar cities located in a state) are New York and New Jersey. However, given the unique geographic layout of these two neighboring states, looking more specifically at the metro area they share can give a clearer picture of just how many million-dollar cities center around New York City. The New York metro area comes in first for having the most million-dollar cities (in a single metro area) with 106, a significant uptick from the area's 82 in 2023. This incredible growth in million-dollar cities for the area (and in such a short time frame) highlights the rise in housing prices that's squeezing potential buyers out. According to data from C2ER's cost of living index, the average home price in Manhattan is $2,743,333, almost five times the national average.

Removing California cities from the list, the next metro area with the most million-dollar cities is Boston with 23. According to Redfin, the average home in the Boston metro area was selling for a median price of $830,000 in June 2024. Next up with a tie of 17 each is Miami/Fort Lauderdale and Seattle. The average Miami metro area home price was $630,000 while Seattle's was $872,515 as of June 2024. It's worth noting that all of these metro areas added additional million-dollar cities in the last year, highlighting just how widespread the increase in housing prices truly is (not to mention how expensive homeowners insurance is in most of these areas).