It’s easy to think that every apartment in a bustling metropolis will be eye-wateringly expensive, or that homes out in the sticks are a dime a dozen. But the truth is that — in any given town or city across the U.S. — an affluent neighborhood might be just around the corner from one where a house sells for much less than the national average cost of a square foot ($244) of property.
This got American Home Shield’s analysts wondering: based on the price per square foot of the average local property, where are the most and least expensive neighborhoods in the U.S. to buy? As you explore different areas, it’s worth considering how a home warranty could provide added protection for your home.
What We Did
We used Homes.com’s Neighborhood Search database to find the average price per square foot data for over 22,000 neighborhoods across the U.S. We could then rank the most and least expensive neighborhoods in which to buy property on a national level, a state level (excluding Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota and Virginia, where data was unavailable) and for major cities.
Key Findings
- The South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco is the most expensive in the U.S., at $5,415, based on the price per square foot of the average local property.
- Most of the country’s top 20 most expensive neighborhoods to buy in are in California, Florida, and New York.
- In contrast, Homewood North in Pennsylvania ranks as the country’s least expensive neighborhood: here, the average property costs $29 per square foot.
- Outside of Pennsylvania, some of the least expensive neighborhoods in the country can be found in Ohio, Missouri, and Indiana.
South of Market in San Francisco Is America’s Most Expensive Neighborhood per Square Foot
In the South of Market neighborhood — also known as SoMa — in San Francisco, the average property sells for $5,415 per square foot. That’s more expensive than any other neighborhood in the United States. Situated slightly south of Market Street, this area is home to billion-dollar tech businesses like Airbnb and Uber and a median household income of $104,440.
The rental market isn’t all that better, either. “If you look at the South of Market and other historic sites,” explains Cody Tromler of Upnest. “All of the buildings are still intact. This means there is less opportunity for new real estate to be built. Since there are fewer apartments to rent due to the lack of real estate, it makes sense for the rent to shoot through the roof.”
SoMa leads a ranking made up of neighborhoods in California, Florida, New York, Hawaii and Washington, among the most expensive states in which to live. The latter’s most expensive neighborhood, ranking fourth overall, is Downtown Bellevue ($3,619 per square foot), home of Bellevue’s central business district and a hub for major tech companies like Amazon. The city as a whole has seen soaring house prices in recent years, in part due to an influx of buyers from California.
Explore our map above to reveal the most expensive neighborhood in each state. The Seaport comes top in Massachusetts, a waterfront neighborhood where the average property costs $1,725 per square foot. Here, the last few decades have seen empty wharves and lots developed into upscale apartments, stores and restaurants, attracting a community of residents who earn a median income of $167,000.
Two Pittsburgh Neighborhoods Among the Nation’s Least Expensive for Homes
In other neighborhoods across the states, buying property is a lot less pricey. Homewood North in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ranks as the country’s least expensive, a place where the average home costs just $29 per square foot. The median household income here is $29,694, some 46% below the national average. Beltzhoover, another Pittsburgh neighborhood, also ranks ($38 per square foot).
Most of the other neighborhoods above can be found in the Rust Belt states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio, where younger generations of workers are moving to secure more affordable housing. Ranking second overall is Downtown Gary in Indiana, where the average home costs $32 per square foot. Since the 1960s, a decline in local industry has seen the population plummet, and it’s estimated that a third of Gary’s properties are empty today.
