Yahoo Sports How Much House Does $200K Buy You in Every State?
Housing prices rose so high in 2021 -- just shy of 20% -- that Zillow now quotes the median home value in the U.S. as $316,368. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, prices shot up so high in the second half of the year that the median sale price in the third quarter of 2021 breached $400,000 for the first time when it hit $404,700.
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In the post-pandemic world, $200,000 clearly doesn't go as far as it used to. In fact, the last time the median sale price was under $200,000 was the fourth quarter of 2003, when it hit $198,000. If $200,000 is your budget's ceiling, then you're going to have to put a lot of thought into where you're going to live.
In 2015, the average American home topped out at an indulgent 2,687 square feet, according to Rocket Mortgage, before settling down to 2,301. Even so, $200,000 won't get you anywhere near that in any state in the country -- you'll be well under 2,000 square feet even in the cheapest states. In the most expensive states, $200,000 will buy you something between a tiny house and the smallest studio apartments.
Using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center's housing cost of living index (CoL), GoBankingRates ranked all 50 states by how much house -- or how little -- you can buy for $200,000.
See what $200,000 can buy you in each state.
49. New York
Housing CoL index: 227.5
Price per square foot: $422.30
No. of square feet for $200,000: 474
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48. California
Housing CoL index: 221
Price per square foot: $410.23
No. of square feet for $200,000: 488
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47. Massachusetts
Housing CoL index: 177.8
Price per square foot: $330.04
No. of square feet for $200,000: 606
46. Oregon
Housing CoL index: 169.3
Price per square foot: $314.26
No. of square feet for $200,000: 636
44. New Jersey
Housing CoL index: 148
Price per square foot: $274.73
No. of square feet for $200,000: 728
43. Vermont
Housing CoL index: 135.5
Price per square foot: $251.52
No. of square feet for $200,000: 795
39. Washington
Housing CoL index: 121.6
Price per square foot: $225.72
No. of square feet for $200,000: 886
38. Rhode Island
Housing CoL index: 121.5
Price per square foot: $225.53
No. of square feet for $200,000: 887
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37. Arizona
Housing CoL index: 117.8
Price per square foot: $218.67
No. of square feet for $200,000: 915
32. Florida
Housing CoL index: 104.1
Price per square foot: $193.24
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,035
31. Delaware
Housing CoL index: 102.4
Price per square foot: $190.08
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,052
30. South Dakota
Housing CoL index: 101.6
Price per square foot: $188.60
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,060
28. Utah
Housing CoL index: 99.3
Price per square foot: $184.33
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,085
20. Nebraska
Housing CoL index: 84.7
Price per square foot: $157.22
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,272
19. Texas
Housing CoL index: 83.9
Price per square foot: $155.74
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,284
18. Missouri
Housing CoL index: 82.1
Price per square foot: $152.40
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,312
17. South Carolina
Housing CoL index: 82
Price per square foot: $152.21
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,314
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16. New Mexico
Housing CoL index: 82
Price per square foot: $152.21
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,314
15. Arkansas
Housing CoL index: 79.8
Price per square foot: $148.13
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,350
14. Michigan
Housing CoL index: 79.6
Price per square foot: $147.76
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,354
13. Tennessee
Housing CoL index: 79.4
Price per square foot: $147.39
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,357
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12. Wyoming
Housing CoL index: 78.6
Price per square foot: $145.90
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,371
11. Kentucky
Housing CoL index: 78.5
Price per square foot: $145.72
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,373
10. West Virginia
Housing CoL index: 78.4
Price per square foot: $145.53
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,374
9. Indiana
Housing CoL index: 77.8
Price per square foot: $144.42
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,385
8. Ohio
Housing CoL index: 77
Price per square foot: $142.93
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,399
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7. Illinois
Housing CoL index: 75.3
Price per square foot: $139.78
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,431
6. Oklahoma
Housing CoL index: 75.2
Price per square foot: $139.59
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,433
5. Georgia
Housing CoL index: 75.1
Price per square foot: $139.40
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,435
4. Iowa
Housing CoL index: 74.7
Price per square foot: $138.66
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,442
3. Kansas
Housing CoL index: 72.8
Price per square foot: $135.14
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,480
2. Alabama
Housing CoL index: 69.5
Price per square foot: $129.01
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,550
1. Mississippi
Housing CoL index: 66.4
Price per square foot: $123.26
No. of square feet for $200,000: 1,623
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Methodology: To determine how much house $200,000 will buy you in every state, GOBankingRates first sourced the (1) US median listing price per square feet in the United States as sourced from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ($185.63). With this figure isolated, GOBankingRates sourced each state's (2) housing cost of living index as sourced from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center data for Quarter 3 of 2021. With these two factors, GOBankingRates was able to calculate how much square footage you could afford in each state with $200,000. All data were collected and are up to date as of Dec. 1, 2021.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much House Does $200K Buy You in Every State?
