Home prices soared in 2021. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said the median price of an existing home in 2021 was $346,900, up 17%. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the NAR, said that the jump was “even stronger than the days of subprime lending.” That was a decade and a half ago, just before the housing price collapse of 2007/2008.

Among the causes for this rise are extraordinarily low mortgage rates (which have started to rise recently) and new mobility among some Americans who do not have to work near their employers’ offices because of “work from home” options.

Realtor.com has released its How Much Will Today’s Median Home Price—$375K—Really Get You Across the U.S.? report. For some reason, its figure was slightly higher than the NAR figure.

As Realtor.com reviewed prices in several cities, its researchers found a huge gulf from the cities where prices were high compared to those where prices were very low. Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale commented: “For the nationwide median list price, you can get a small condo in San Jose or a spacious home with four times the bedrooms and almost 10 times the square footage in places like Youngstown, OH.”

The data were from December and covered America’s 100 largest cities and their surrounding areas based on population. The primary measure was based on price per square foot.

The most expensive market among those considered, against the $375,000 price, was San Jose, California, at 458 square feet. San Jose is among the most expensive housing markets in America. A recent study by Insurify put it number one in America, based on the average home price at sale of $1,060,398.

Across the cities measured, the one with the lowest figure was Youngstown, Ohio, where $375,000 would buy a home with 4,540 square feet. Youngtown is among the poorest cities in America. It is one of the rust belt cities where the population has dropped sharply over the past several decades. The Census Bureau put the population figure in 1960 at 166,689. In 2020, the figure was only 60,068.

This is what $375,000 will buy in major American cities:

• San Jose (458 sq. ft.)
• Miami (1,060)
• Phoenix (1,456)
• Spokane (1,707)
• Philadelphia (1,924)
• Greenville (2,451)
• Indianapolis (2,847)
• Youngstown (4,540)

Click here to see the most expensive cities to buy a home in.

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