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.