Real Estate
The Median Home Size in Every U.S. State in 2022
The Median Home Size in Every U.S. State in 2022
Over the last century, home sizes in the U.S. have skyrocketed. In 1949, the typical single-family home was just 909 square feet—by 2021, it had shot up to 2,480 square feet.
While U.S. homes are getting larger on the whole, they still vary drastically depending on the location. What areas in the U.S. have the largest homes, and which ones have the smallest?
This graphic by American Home Shield uses data from the 2022 American Home Size Index to show the median home size in every U.S. state.
The 2022 American Home Size Index
The index uses data from 474,157 listings of both houses and condos for sale on Zillow as of May 2022. After the data was compiled, it was organized by state and city, and the median home size was then calculated for each area.
According to the findings, there was a strong correlation with the size of a home and the age of the area’s housing stock. For instance, Utah is the U.S. state with the largest median home size at 2,800 square feet. And since the state’s median home was built in 1989, it has the third-youngest home stock of any state across the country.
This trend is apparent on a city-level as well. Here’s a look at home sizes across America’s top 50 most populated cities (with available data):
As the graphic shows, up-and-coming tech hubs like Raleigh and Colorado Springs have some of the largest homes.
Colorado Springs in particular has seen a significant influx in employment over the last few years, which has attracted high-income tech workers to the area driven up demand for spacious single-family dwellings.
The Price of Real Estate Compared to Home Size
The data also showed an inverse relationship between an area’s median price of real estate and the median home size. For instance, Hawaii has the smallest median home size of any state, as well as the most expensive at $743.86 per square foot.
This trend is apparent in the state of New York as well, which had the second smallest median home size. Home costs in the state were a median $421.49 per square foot, the third-most expensive of any state.
Lot Size vs. Home Size
Interestingly, while home sizes in the U.S. have gotten larger over time, lot sizes have shrunk over the years.
In 1978, the median lot size for a U.S. property was 18,760 square feet, but by 2020, this figure had dropped to a record low of 13,896 square feet.
With lot sizes shrinking, will there come a point where home size growth across the country starts to plateau, or even shrink?

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
Markets
These Global Cities Show the Highest Real Estate Bubble Risk
A global look at which cities have the most overheated real estate markets. Toronto shows the highest bubble risk in 2022.

These Global Cities Show the Highest Real Estate Bubble Risk
Housing bubbles are a tricky phenomenon. As a market gathers steam and prices increase, it remains a matter of debate whether that market is overvalued and flooded with speculation, or it’s simply experiencing robust demand.
Of course, once a bubble bursts, it’s all obvious in hindsight.
One common red flag is when prices decouple from local incomes and rents. As well, imbalances in the real economy, such as excessive construction activity and lending can signal a bubble in the making.
The map above, based on data from the Real Estate Bubble Index by UBS, examines 25 global cities, scoring them based on their bubble risk.
Overinflated Markets
In the 2022 edition of the Real Estate Bubble Index, nine of the cities covered were classified as having extreme bubble risk (1.5 or higher score).
Rank | Risk Category | City | Bubble Index Score |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🔴 | 🇨🇦 Toronto | 2.24 |
#2 | 🔴 | 🇩🇪 Frankfurt | 2.21 |
#3 | 🔴 | 🇨🇭 Zurich | 1.81 |
#4 | 🔴 | 🇩🇪 Munich | 1.80 |
#5 | 🔴 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong | 1.71 |
#6 | 🔴 | 🇨🇦 Vancouver | 1.70 |
#7 | 🔴 | 🇳🇱 Amsterdam | 1.62 |
#8 | 🔴 | 🇮🇱 Tel Aviv | 1.59 |
#9 | 🔴 | 🇯🇵 Tokyo | 1.56 |
#10 | 🟠 | 🇺🇸 Miami | 1.39 |
#11 | 🟠 | 🇺🇸 Los Angeles | 1.31 |
#12 | 🟠 | 🇸🇪 Stockholm | 1.22 |
#13 | 🟠 | 🇫🇷 Paris | 1.21 |
#14 | 🟠 | 🇦🇺 Sydney | 1.19 |
#15 | 🟠 | 🇨🇭 Geneva | 1.14 |
#16 | 🟠 | 🇬🇧 London | 1.08 |
#17 | 🟠 | 🇺🇸 San Francisco | 0.78 |
#18 | 🟠 | 🇺🇸 Boston | 0.75 |
#19 | 🟠 | 🇪🇸 Madrid | 0.59 |
#20 | 🟠 | 🇺🇸 New York | 0.57 |
#21 | 🟠 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 0.50 |
#22 | 🟢 | 🇮🇹 Milan | 0.34 |
#23 | 🟢 | 🇧🇷 Sao Paulo | 0.20 |
#24 | 🟢 | 🇦🇪 Dubai | 0.16 |
#25 | 🟢 | 🇵🇱 Warsaw | 0.15 |
Canada’s largest city finds itself at the top of a ranking no city wants to end up on. Toronto’s home prices have been rising steadily for years now, and many, including UBS, believe that the city is now firmly in bubble territory.
Vancouver also finds itself in a similar position. Both Canadian cities have a high quality of life and have thriving tech industries.
Notably, none of the U.S. cities analyzed find themselves in the most extreme bubble risk category. The closest scoring U.S. city was Miami, which sits firmly in overvalued territory (0.5-1.5 range) with a score of 1.39.
Examining the Trends
In recent years, low interest rates helped push home prices and incomes further apart.
For cities in the bubble risk zone, prices have climbed by an average of 60% in inflation-adjusted terms over the past decade, while rents and real incomes increased by just 12%. And, while COVID-19 briefly put a dent in urban demand, rents in the cities analyzed rose at around the same pace as pre-pandemic times.
As a result, all but three of the cities saw positive price growth over the past year from a nominal price perspective:
U.S. cities occupy a number of spots at the top of this chart. Miami, in particular, is seeing strong internal migration patterns, as well as renewed interest from foreign investors.
Hong Kong experienced the biggest one-year nominal drop of all the cities analyzed. The report notes that since around 2019 Hong Kong “has broadly stagnated as the lack of affordability, economic woes, and pandemic restrictions all took a major toll on demand.”
Prices can’t rise forever. According to UBS, most cities with high valuations, price corrections have already begun, or could be right around the corner.
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