146 Cities Joined the Million Dollar List in 2021 — How Does That Impact Your Ability To Buy a Home?
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
Commitment to Our Readers
GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.
20 Years
Helping You Live Richer
Reviewed
by Experts
Trusted by
Millions of Readers
Living in a million-dollar city sounds awesome. Your world will be filled with golden playgrounds, five-star restaurants and designer boutiques, right? Nah. What it really means is that homes are very expensive, and your monthly mortgage payment could be a real whopper.
A “million-dollar city” is one in which the typical home value is at least $1 million — and there are a lot of those popping up in the United States. A record 146 new U.S. cities became million-dollar cities in 2021, which was the highest-ever number of new entrants in a single year, according to a new report from Zillow. That brought the total to 481 cities nationwide.
The number of cities that rose above $1 million in value last year is almost triple the number in in 2020. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that home values in the U.S. grew at a record pace in 2021, with Zillow estimating that the typical U.S. home value grew just less than 20% for the year.
Don’t look for much letup this year, either. As GOBankingRates previously reported, Zillow expects average U.S. home prices to rise 14.3% in 2022 vs. last year, with certain cities in the South eyeing much higher increases.
Prices have been pushed up by surging demand for housing and a shortage of supply as the home building industry contends with supply chain problems, a shortage of raw materials and not enough workers. Rising mortgage rates could push the cost to buy a new home even higher.
The good news is, you don’t have to dish out anywhere near $1 million for the typical home in the U.S. The average home value in the U.S. currently stands at $325,677, according to Zillow.
In keeping with recent trends, the majority of million-dollar cities are located within a few large coastal regions. The San Francisco and New York metro areas lead with 76 million-dollar cities each. The Los Angeles metro are comes next with 57 cities on the list, followed by San Jose, California with 22. About 60% of all million-dollar cities lie within eight metro areas, and almost half (44%) are in California.
But even states like Idaho, Montana and Tennessee now have million-dollar cities. And the most expensive city is Indian Creek, Florida, an exclusive 300-acre island in Biscayne Bay in Miami. A typical home there costs around $28.3 million.
Other municipalities high up on the list are Atherton on the San Francisco Peninsula; Hunts Point, Washington; Jupiter Island, Florida; and Sagaponack, New York.
More From GOBankingRates
