The median sales price of the existing privately owned single-family homes in the United States increased slightly in 2024. The most expensive homes were found in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, where the median sales price was 1.9 million U.S. dollars. Hawaii and Delaware experienced the strongest home appreciation.

In 2022, the annual salary needed to buy a median priced home in the United States was 97,204 U.S. dollars. However, in some of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States where housing prices are up to two or three times higher, homebuyers would have to earn more than 100,000 U.S. dollars to afford a home. In San Jose, which was the most expensive metro in 2022, the annual salary needed for a median home was approximately 373,696 U.S. dollars.

In 2020, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara in California was the most expensive metropolitan area for both renting and owning a home in the United States. The median monthly housing costs for owners in 2020 were 2,609 U.S. dollars, whereas for renters they were 2,378 U.S. dollars. In all thirty metropolitan areas, renting was more affordable than buying. As of February 2021, the average rent for a three bedroom apartment was nearly 1,300 U.S. dollars.

In 2024, a two-bedroom apartment in New York HMFA cost about 2,752 U.S. dollars in fair monthly rent, making it the most expensive metropolitan area in New York. Nassau-Suffolk HMFA ranked second most expensive with monthly rent of over 2,500 U.S. dollars for a two-bedroom apartment. On the other hand, Utica-Rome MSA and Yates County HMFA were the least costly, requiring renters to spend at least 992 and 1066 U.S. dollars, respectively in monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment. These rents were higher than the monthly rent required for a two bedroom apartment in Florida in 2024.

Austin was the most expensive metropolitan area for renting an apartment in Texas in 2022. The monthly asking rent was 1,585 U.S. dollars in that year, up from 1,450 euros the year before. At the other end of the scale was Texarkana with monthly rent of 742 U.S. dollars.

In 2024, a two-bedroom apartment in Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall HMFA had a fair market rent of about 2,324 U.S. dollars monthly, making it the most expensive metropolitan area in Florida. This also happens to be the metropolitan area with the highest hourly wage required to afford a two bedroom apartment in the Florida. On the other hand, the Levy County HMFA metro was the most affordable, requiring renters to spend at least 905 U.S. dollars respectively in monthly rent for a two bedroom apartment.

Townhouses in the Austin-Round Rock metro in Texas sold for the median price of 405,000 U.S. dollars in June 2022, making it the most expensive metro for townhouse purchases in the state. In San Antonio-New Braunfels, on the other hand, the median price of condominiums was much lower at 286,000 U.S. dollars. Statewide, townhouses sold for the median price of 335,000 U.S. dollars.

In 2024, San Francisco, was the most expensive metro area for buying a luxury property. The median sale price of the single family homes in the top five percent of the market by market price was 4.8 million U.S. dollars. In Detroit, on the other hand, the median sales price of a luxury housing unit was approximately 620,000 U.S. dollars.

The most affordable metropolitan area among the ten highest ranking metropolitan areas for digital nomads was Jacksonville, Florida with a typical rental rate of 960 U.S. dollars per month as of February 2021. San Jose, California stood out as the most expensive metro with a typical monthly rent of 2,511 U.S. dollars.

San Jose, CA, Austin, TX, and Salt Lake City, UT, were also among the most popular metros for Millennial home buyers in 2020.

Washington DC was the most expensive major city for office space, among those being considered for Amazon’s second headquarters, in the United States in 2017. Tenants paid, on average, 595 U.S. dollars per square foot for office space in that city, compared with 550 U.S. dollars and 486 U.S. dollars per square foot in Boston and Austin respectively.   Why is Washington DC so expensive? The GDP of the Washington metro area has steadily risen since 2001, which indicates that the economy is growing. This is not surprising, because it is the capital of the United States and, consequently, its political epicenter. All three branches of government, nearly 200 foreign embassies and several international organizations - such as the IMF, the World Bank and the National Geographic Society - are located there, which also means that it’s the logical place for lobbying firms and many financial services companies to operate from.

Further growth expected in Washington DC The future of the office real estate market in Washington DC looks promising, due to its political importance and strong economy. Office rents are forecast to grow by almost six percent by 2021, which is impressive given how high they already are. However, vacancy rates are also set to rise in the area, which means that more available office units will be unoccupied.

In 2024, a two-bedroom apartment at a fair market rent in New York HMFA would require renters to earn at least 52.92 U.S. dollars per hour, making it the most expensive metropolitan area to rent in New York. The Nassau-Suffolk HMFA ranked second most expensive with a minimum hourly wage requirement of 48.23 U.S. dollars for a two-bedroom apartment. On the other hand, Yates County HMFA and Utica-Rome MSA were the most affordable areas requiring renters to earn less than 21 U.S. dollars to afford renting a two-bedroom apartment. The monthly fair market rent required for a two-bedroom apartment in New York during this period was between 992 and 2,752 U.S. dollars depending on the metropolitan area.

The price of tap water in the United States varied greatly from city to city in 2021. One of the most expensive cities for tap water in the U.S. is San Francisco, where one cubic meter costs an average of 6.07 U.S. dollars per cubic meter. In comparison, citizens in the Arizona state capital of Phoenix paid, on average, 0.96 U.S. dollars per cubic meter. This is roughly 63 percent lower than the U.S. average.

Rising water bills in the U.S.

Over the past decade, water bills in the U.S. have increased considerably in a number of major cities. In Austin, Texas, water bills rose by 869 U.S. dollars between 2010 and 2018, an increase of 154 percent. The sharp rising costs has left many in the United States with unaffordable water bills, especially in low income areas in cities such as New Orleans, Cleveland, and Santa Fe.

U.S. water crisis

One of the reasons for the rising water bills in the U.S. is the aging and deteriorating water infrastructure. In addition to rising bills, outdated treatment plants with leaking pipes have resulted in harmful toxins and chemicals contaminating drinking water. A number of highly populated cities in the U.S. have been found to have high concentrations of PFAs in tap water, exposing millions of people to potentially unsafe drinking water.

In 2024, households in the Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall HMFA metro needed an hourly wage of 44.69 U.S. dollars to afford the rent of a two-bedroom apartment. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton HMFA had the second most expensive two-bedroom apartments as a household would have to earn at least 42.81 U.S. dollars in order to afford rent payments.On the other hand, Levy County HMFA was the most affordable metro, requiring renters to earn less than 18 U.S. dollars in hourly wages to afford monthly rent.

In the first quarter of 2025, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Honolulu were some of the U.S. cities with the highest housing construction costs. Meanwhile, Phoenix had one of the lowest construction costs for high-end multifamily homes at 190 U.S. dollars per square foot and Las Vegas for single-family homes between 240 and 480 U.S. dollars per square foot. Construction cost disparities As seen here, the construction cost for a high-end multi-family home in San Francisco in the first quarter of 2024 was over twice more expensive than in Phoenix. Meanwhile, there were also great differences in the cost of building a single-family house in New York and in Portland or Seattle. Some factors that may cause these disparities are the construction materials, installation, and composite costs, differing land values, wages, etc. For example, although the price of construction materials in the U.S. was rising at a slower level than in 2022 and 2023, several materials that are essential in most construction projects had growth rates of over five percent in 2024. Growing industry revenue Despite the economic uncertainty and other challenges, the size of the private construction market in the U.S. rose during the past years. It is important to consider that supply and demand for housing influences the revenue of this segment of the construction market. On the supply side, single-family home construction fell in 2023, but it is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025. On the demand side, some of the U.S. metropolitan areas with the highest sale prices of single-family homes were located in California, with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at the top of the ranking.

In California, the highest fair market rent for a two-bedroom accommodation amounted to 4,054 U.S. dollars in Santa Cruz-Watsonville. This made it the most expensive metro area to live in California in 2024. Renters required an hourly wage of at least 77.96 U.S. dollars to afford this two-bedroom housing. Second in rank was San Francisco that had a 3,359 U.S. dollar fair market rent for two-bedroom housing.

Luxury home prices grew by more than 10 percent year-on-year in 10 of the 50 most populous metros in the United States in the first quarter of 2024. The average sales price of luxury homes in Providence, RI increased by over 16 percent in that period, making it the metro with the fastest growing luxury home prices. The luxury market is defined by the source as the most expensive five percent of the market.

In January 2025, apartment rents recorded an annual growth in most U.S. states. Nevertheless, the national average rent declined by about one percent. West Virginia was the state with the largest rental increase, while Colorado measured the largest decline. California, one of the most expensive states to rent an apartment, such as California, saw an increase of about one percent from the previous year. How much should you earn to afford to rent an apartment in different states in the U.S.? Both employment opportunities and the living costs vary widely across the country. In California, which is among the most competitive housing markets in the U.S., the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment rental was roughly 47 U.S. dollars, more than twice higher than in North Carolina, Louisiana, or Michigan in 2024. When it comes to the median household income, on the other hand, California does not even make it in the top ten states. How much should you earn to afford a home in some of U.S. largest metros? In 2022, the annual salary needed to buy a median-priced home in the U.S. was 97,000 U.S. dollars. However, in some of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, where housing prices are up to two or three times higher, homebuyers would have to earn more than 100,000 U.S. dollars to afford a home. In San Jose, which was the most expensive metro, the annual salary needed for a median-priced home was approximately 374,000 U.S. dollars.

In 2023, Lake Oswego was the most expensive city to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Portland. The median asking rent in Lake Oswego was 1,710 U.S. dollars, while in Longview, it stood at 1,090 U.S. dollars.

In April 2024, the typical value of a single-family home in the 40th to 60th percentile in Florida ranged between 1.1 million U.S. dollars and 214,000 U.S. dollars. Key West, Naples, and Miami ranked in the top three most expensive markets. Sebring, Wauchula, and Palatka were on the other end of the scale with the most affordable homes.

In the last quarter of 2024, Portland and San Francisco were some of the most expensive cities in the United States for the construction of general hospitals. The cost of building a hospital in Portland ranged between 900 and 1,200 U.S. dollars. Boston and Los Angeles were the next cities in the ranking. Meanwhile, Las Vegas was one of the cheapest city in the list to build a general hospital.