• As of Q2 2015, the five markets with the highest percentage of all-cash home purchases were all in Florida.
• Seven of the 10 metros with the smallest share of cash buyers are on the west coast.
• Metros with small shares of cash buyers tend to have younger populations, while markets with high shares of cash buyers tend to have a higher share of households headed by a widow/widower.

Western gunslingers of yore may have risked their lives for a fistful of dollars, but today’s Western homebuyers more often than not come armed with a mortgage instead of cash.

As of the second quarter of 2015, cash purchases of homes were far more common in Midwestern and Southeastern markets – particularly in Florida – than in the Western U.S., according to a Zillow analysis of cash purchases in the 51 largest U.S. metros for which we have data.

The five markets with the highest percentage of all-cash home purchases were all in Florida, while seven of the 10 metros with the smallest share of cash buyers were on the west coast. Metros with small shares of cash buyers tend to have younger populations, while markets with higher shares of cash buyers tend to have a larger proportion of households headed by a widow/widower.

Why the big disparities between the West and the rest? Frankly, the west is different from other areas of the country. It tends to be younger (many western markets have relatively large percentages of residents under the age of 40), and has fewer households headed by widows/widowers. Both are correlated with smaller shares of cash buyers (figure 1).

The west is truly unique when it comes to cash buyers – or lack thereof. Of the 51 metros we analyzed, a market located fully west of the Mississippi River doesn’t appear on the list until Honolulu (29 percent of home purchases made with cash), at number 29. Additionally, among the 10 markets nationwide with the lowest share of cash buyers, only one is not in the west – Worcester, Massachusetts, with 21 percent of home purchases made with cash. Colorado Springs has the lowest share of cash buyers among large metros analyzed, at 14 percent (figure 2).

But if you’re looking to purchase a home in Florida, you may have to put cash on the barrelhead in order to compete. In Miami, Sarasota, Fort Meyers and Daytona Beach alike, at least half of all purchases in Q2 2015 were made with cash. Miami had the largest share of purchases made with cash, at 55 percent, with Sarasota and Fort Meyers not far behind. But despite its lead in these rankings, the share of purchases made with cash in Miami is actually falling. From 2008 through Q2 2015, an average of 61 percent of all home purchases in Miami were made with cash.

Different regions have different shares of cash buyers. Please use the interactive tool below to explore the relationship between geography and cash buyers.

*Headline inspired by the adventures of the man with no name.