Million-dollar starter homes now hit 242 U.S. cities, Zillow says

A starter home in America has been redefined so sharply that in 242 U.S. cities, the least expensive homes now carry seven figures. Zillow’s June 15, 2026 analysis shows that the count has tripled since February 2020, when only 80 cities had starter homes valued at $1 million or more.

Zillow defines a starter home as one in the lowest third of home values in a given region, which means these are not trophy houses or luxury listings. They are the entry-level homes in their markets. Nationally, the typical starter home is worth $198,649, up 1.7% from a year earlier, a reminder that the price pressure is not confined to the most expensive coastal enclaves.

The surge traces back to a collision of forces that pushed home values up at a record pace: the pandemic housing boom, a shortage that had been building for a decade, intense demand and historically low mortgage rates. Kara Ng, Zillow’s senior economist, said the pandemic reset the cost of buying a home and spread million-dollar starter homes from a handful of coastal states to more than two dozen states. She added that more inventory, slower price growth and a narrower rent-versus-buy gap are making conditions somewhat friendlier for buyers than in recent years. Zillow says the typical home buyer now breaks even relative to renting after roughly six years, down from more than eight years in late 2023.

The geographic spread has widened well beyond California, which still has the most cities on the list. New York and New Jersey are now the fastest-growing states for million-dollar starter homes. New York’s total has climbed to 41 cities, from 12 before the pandemic, while New Jersey has risen to 26, from just one. In all, 26 states now have at least one city with a million-dollar starter home, compared with nine before the pandemic.

The pattern also highlights how tight supply continues to shape the Northeast. Zillow says six of the 10 most competitive housing markets in the country are in the region, where new construction has lagged and inventory deficits remain deep. As Ng put it, “First-time buyers are facing a market where prices that once seemed unimaginable have become reality.”