What $1 Million Actually Buys in 10 US Cities
Same budget, ten very different housing markets. From a 2-bed condo in LA to a 5,000 sqft estate in Nashville — what $1M gets you, by the numbers.
A million dollars is a meaningful budget by any measure — but what it actually buys depends massively on where you spend it. We pulled live averages from 7,721+ active listings across ten US cities and calculated how much house $1M gets you in each. The spread is absurd.
The extremes: in New York, $1M gets you roughly 530 sqft on average. In Phoenix, the same money buys 3,257 sqft. That's 6× the house for the same price.
Ranked, most expensive to cheapest per-square-foot
#1 New York
$1M buys roughly 530 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 1 beds and 500 sqft.
Condo dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $1.5M. 36% of listings are under $1M.
#2 Los Angeles
$1M buys roughly 817 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 3 beds and 1,530 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $1.2M. 39% of listings are under $1M.
#3 San Francisco
$1M buys roughly 1,040 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 3 beds and 1,395 sqft.
Condo dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $1.3M. 34% of listings are under $1M.
#4 Seattle
$1M buys roughly 1,664 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 3 beds and 2,120 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $849K. 65% of listings are under $1M.
#5 Miami
$1M buys roughly 1,873 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 4 beds and 1,718 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $599K. 79% of listings are under $1M.
#6 Nashville
$1M buys roughly 2,469 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 4 beds and 3,766 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $600K. 76% of listings are under $1M.
#7 Denver
$1M buys roughly 2,611 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 4 beds and 2,093 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $599K. 80% of listings are under $1M.
#8 Austin
$1M buys roughly 2,865 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 7 beds and 2,759 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $595K. 79% of listings are under $1M.
#9 Chicago
$1M buys roughly 3,175 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 4 beds and 2,200 sqft.
Condo dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $400K. 89% of listings are under $1M.
#10 Phoenix
$1M buys roughly 3,257 sqft at average per-sqft prices. A representative listing near $1M here has 3 beds and 1,967 sqft.
Single Family dominates inventory. Median across all listings: $475K. 91% of listings are under $1M.
The honest caveat
Average per-sqft figures hide enormous within-city variation. $1M in Beverly Hills is different from $1M in Sylmar even though both are “Los Angeles.” The numbers above represent the typical home in each city, not any specific neighborhood. If you're actually shopping, neighborhood matters more than city.
There's also a subtler point: in cities where most listings are under$1M, having a $1M budget means you're a premium buyer — expect newer construction, better finishes, bigger lots. In cities where most listings are over $1M, $1M makes you a budget buyer, and your options compress accordingly.
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Data pulled from 7,721+ active listings across the 10 cities, refreshed daily. Representative listings selected by proximity to $1M and display whichever matching listing was closest at data pull time.