• The number of cities where a typical starter home is worth $1 million or more has nearly tripled since before the pandemic, rising from 80 in February 2020 to a record 242 today.
• California still accounts for the most cities with million-dollar starter homes, but New York and New Jersey are driving the fastest growth.
• Nationwide, the typical starter home is worth $198,649, up 1.7% from a year ago.

The pandemic reset the cost of buying a home, spreading million-dollar starter homes from a handful of coastal states to more than two dozen across the country. Now, a record 242 cities across 26 states have starter homes valued at $1 million or more. 

A typical “starter home” is defined for this analysis as a home in the lowest third of home values in a given region. The typical starter home nationwide is worth $198,649, meaning million-dollar starter homes are still the exception, not the norm. 

The number of cities where the entry point for homeownership is $1 million or more grew from 226 cities a year ago. The effects of the pandemic housing boom have proven durable. A housing shortage a decade in the making, ran headlong into intense demand with mortgage rates at historic lows, driving up home values at a record pace. 

Conditions are slowly becoming friendlier for buyers: The typical home buyer now breaks even relative to renting after roughly six years, down from more than eight years in late 2023. More inventory and slower price growth mean buyers who are financially prepared are generally in better shape than in recent years.

The geography of million-dollar starter homes

California still leads overall with 105 cities, and 26 states now have at least one city with million-dollar starter homes, up from nine before the pandemic. Before 2020, this list was made up almost entirely of coastal states — Colorado was the only interior state with a million-dollar starter home city. Now, states including Texas, Wyoming and Illinois have multiple such cities. 

New York and New Jersey are the fastest-growing states on the list, adding 15 cities combined in the past year. New York’s total has reached 41 — up from just 12 before the pandemic — while New Jersey’s has grown to 26, up from only one. The pattern mirrors what Zillow found in its 2026 hottest markets analysis: Six of the 10 most competitive housing markets in the country are in the Northeast, where new construction has lagged and inventory deficits run deep. 

The New York City metro area, which includes parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, leads all metro areas with 63 cities where a typical starter home costs $1 million or more. The San Francisco metro follows with 37, then Los Angeles (33), San Jose (13), Miami (8) and Seattle (8).