Short answer. U.S. home prices are highest in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Washington. In 2024, metro areas including San Jose, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Los Angeles have median home prices exceeding $1 million — more than 2.5× the national median of $408,000.
| Metro / State | Approx. Median Price (2024) | vs. National Median |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose, CA | ~$1.4M+ | 3.5× |
| San Francisco, CA | ~$1.1M+ | 2.7× |
| Honolulu, HI | ~$850K | 2.1× |
| Los Angeles, CA | ~$820K | 2.0× |
| Seattle, WA | ~$750K | 1.8× |
| New York, NY | ~$700K | 1.7× |
| National median | ~$407,500 | 1.0× |
Geographic price divergence in U.S. housing has widened dramatically since 2000. High-cost markets have appreciated much faster than the national average, driven by technology-sector wage growth, restrictive land use, and amenity premiums.
Most expensive metro areas (2024)
- San Jose, CA: median ~$1.5M (Silicon Valley tech premium)
- San Francisco, CA: median ~$1.3M
- Honolulu, HI: median ~$1.1M (geographic supply constraint)
- Los Angeles, CA: median ~$900K
- Seattle, WA: median ~$750K
- Boston, MA: median ~$700K
- New York metro: median ~$650K (wide range by borough and county)
Why California dominates the top
California combines three high-price drivers simultaneously: (1) extremely restrictive single-family zoning (California had some of the nation's most constrained housing supply), (2) the world's largest technology industry concentrated in the Bay Area, and (3) persistent in-migration despite high costs. Until 2022, California's high home prices coexisted with low mortgage rates that kept payments technically manageable for high-income tech workers; the rate surge of 2022–2023 hit affordability there particularly hard.
Relationship to national data
The national median existing-home price of $408,000 in 2024 reflects the entire U.S. distribution. Because high-cost metro areas account for a disproportionate share of total home value (California alone represents roughly 25% of U.S. residential real estate value), national prices are pulled higher than what most of the country's geography would suggest. The median home in Mississippi is $175,000; the median home in San Jose is 8.6× that.
Post-COVID shifts
Remote work triggered notable migrations from the most expensive metros to secondary cities — Austin, Nashville, Denver, Phoenix, Boise — driving sharp price increases in those markets between 2020 and 2022 before cooling when the rate shock hit.
Sources
Zillow Home Value Index metro-level data; National Association of Realtors metro-level median prices; U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
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