The housing market is anything but uniform
If you have been following national housing headlines, you have probably seen numbers like "median home price hits $400,000." That figure is real, but it obscures an enormous range. Our analysis of actual transaction data across hundreds of US cities reveals a market where the most expensive city's median is more than 100 times the least expensive.
Here is what the data actually looks like in 2025.
The most expensive cities in America
We pulled city-level summary data from BidNest covering cities with more than 50 homes sold. The top 10 most expensive cities by average median sale price are overwhelmingly concentrated in California:
| City | State | Avg Median Price | Homes Sold | Avg Days on Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Altos | CA | $5,207,500 | 59 | 30 |
| Santa Barbara | CA | $4,587,375 | 224 | 101 |
| Paradise Valley | AZ | $4,175,000 | 107 | 86 |
| Newport Beach | CA | $4,062,063 | 145 | 63 |
| Manhattan Beach | CA | $3,393,000 | 64 | 76 |
| Cupertino | CA | $3,228,000 | 52 | 18 |
| Laguna Beach | CA | $2,775,000 | 69 | 116 |
| Edwards | CO | $2,700,000 | 59 | 84 |
| San Carlos | CA | $2,700,000 | 51 | 16 |
| Burlingame | CA | $2,634,000 | 69 | 19 |
Los Altos, CA tops the list at a staggering $5.2 million median. This Silicon Valley enclave benefits from proximity to Apple and Google headquarters, top-rated schools, and extremely limited housing supply. Despite the eye-popping prices, homes there sell in just 30 days on average.
Cupertino and San Carlos are even faster markets, with average days on market of just 18 and 16 respectively. When you are paying over $2.5 million and homes still sell in two weeks, that tells you demand is relentless.
The lone non-California entry in the top 10 is Paradise Valley, AZ at $4.2 million, a luxury desert enclave outside Scottsdale that has become a magnet for high-net-worth relocations from California. Edwards, CO (the Vail Valley area) rounds out the geographic diversity as a premium mountain market.
Rounding out the top 20, we see more California cities (Menlo Park at $2.6M, Beverly Hills at $2.5M, Palo Alto at $2.3M) alongside Connecticut's Gold Coast towns of Greenwich ($2.5M) and Darien ($2.3M).
The most affordable cities still standing
On the other end of the spectrum, several cities offer median home prices under $130,000 with active transaction volume:
| City | State | Avg Median Price | Homes Sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Saint Louis | IL | $51,170 | 77 |
| Rock Island | IL | $80,000 | 88 |
| Keokuk | IA | $84,500 | 51 |
| Jamestown | NY | $92,500 | 88 |
| Clairton | PA | $96,000 | 58 |
| Flint | MI | $105,690 | 331 |
| Pittsburg | KS | $108,000 | 53 |
| Galesburg | IL | $112,000 | 61 |
| Gary | IN | $113,357 | 154 |
| Youngstown | OH | $132,352 | 352 |
East Saint Louis, IL has a median of just $51,170 -- roughly 1% of what a home costs in Los Altos. These are not ghost towns, either. Flint, MI recorded 331 sales and Youngstown, OH saw 352. These are active markets with real transaction volume.
The affordable cities share common characteristics: they are concentrated in the Rust Belt and Midwest, they experienced significant population and job losses over the past few decades, and they tend to have older housing stock. Saginaw, MI ($131K, 283 sales) and Elmira, NY ($127K, 132 sales) fit this pattern as well.
What is driving the divide
The gap between the most and least expensive markets comes down to three structural factors:
Job markets. The expensive cities sit in or adjacent to major tech, finance, and entertainment employment centers. The affordable cities largely lost their economic base in manufacturing and have not fully replaced it.
Supply constraints. California's expensive markets are hemmed in by geography (mountains, ocean) and restrictive zoning. Midwest cities generally have ample buildable land and fewer regulatory barriers to new construction.
Migration patterns. Remote work expanded the pool of high-income buyers competing in already-expensive markets, while affordable cities have continued to experience population outflows.
Where the opportunities are
For buyers priced out of coastal markets, the data suggests a middle tier worth investigating. Cities like Granite City, IL ($125K), Clinton, IA ($123.5K), and Connersville, IN ($122K) offer functional housing markets with active sales volume at a fraction of coastal prices.
For investors, the high-volume affordable markets -- Flint (331 sales), Youngstown (352 sales), and Saginaw (283 sales) -- indicate liquid markets where you can actually transact, not just find low sticker prices.
Want to explore the data for your target city? Browse all cities on BidNest to see live pricing, competitiveness scores, and neighborhood breakdowns. Or sign up free to track specific markets and get notified when conditions shift.