THE DATASET
All 45 metros
Typical home value, rent, and climate for the largest US metros — real figures from Zillow Research and NASA POWER, 2026-07-06.
New York, NY
$728K home · $3,503/mo · 12.3°C
Own here if you can; rent here if you must tolerate sacrifice.
Zillow, May 2026Los Angeles, CA
$969K home · $2,909/mo · 17.4°C
Perfect weather masks the fact you'll never afford a house here.
Zillow, May 2026Chicago, IL
$354K home · $2,266/mo · 9.8°C
Winter's brutal, but at least your paycheck survives the rent.
Zillow, May 2026Dallas, TX
$367K home · $1,678/mo · 18.6°C
Urban sprawl means affordable housing, but your commute owns your soul.
Zillow, May 2026Houston, TX
$308K home · $1,639/mo · 20.4°C
Cheap housing means sweating through half the year indoors.
Zillow, May 2026Washington, DC
$583K home · $2,416/mo · 13.2°C
Buy cheap, rent expensive, stay because the jobs won't leave.
Zillow, May 2026Philadelphia, PA
$390K home · $1,914/mo · 12.1°C
Great bones, questionable schools, and your car will rust faster than you'd like.
Zillow, May 2026Miami, FL
$476K home · $2,693/mo · 25.5°C
Own cheap, rent expensive, sweat perpetually, hide from tourists.
Zillow, May 2026Atlanta, GA
$383K home · $1,840/mo · 16.7°C
Endless sprawl means cheap housing and soul-crushing traffic for eternity.
Zillow, May 2026Boston, MA
$742K home · $3,211/mo · 9.6°C
Buy a house cheap, rent an apartment expensive, freeze anyway.
Zillow, May 2026Phoenix, AZ
$448K home · $1,742/mo · 22.4°C
Endless sunshine and sprawl: pick your poison, stay forever.
Zillow, May 2026San Francisco, CA
$1149K home · $3,258/mo · 13.6°C
Pleasant weather won't fix your landlord's yacht fund.
Zillow, May 2026Riverside, CA
$585K home · $2,519/mo · 17.4°C
Cheap houses, endless freeway commutes, perfect weather year-round.
Zillow, May 2026Detroit, MI
$269K home · $1,500/mo · 9.2°C
Cheap housing, brutal winters, and a complicated relationship with optimism.
Zillow, May 2026Seattle, WA
$750K home · $2,232/mo · 10.5°C
Rain trades for affordability until it doesn't, then you're just wet and broke.
Zillow, May 2026Minneapolis, MN
$394K home · $1,721/mo · 7°C
Nice downtown, brutal winters, your car's rust is a feature.
Zillow, May 2026San Diego, CA
$946K home · $2,951/mo · 17°C
Perfect weather makes your poverty-wage salary almost bearable.
Zillow, May 2026Tampa, FL
$361K home · $2,018/mo · 22.5°C
Cheap housing means sitting in traffic with strangers who also discovered Florida.
Zillow, May 2026Denver, CO
$573K home · $1,910/mo · 9.1°C
Endless sunshine and mountains—just wait for the brutal wind season.
Zillow, May 2026Baltimore, MD
$406K home · $1,919/mo · 12.1°C
Cheap housing means tolerating politics that make the news for wrong reasons.
Zillow, May 2026St. Louis, MO
$277K home · $1,451/mo · 13.1°C
Cheap rent, great neighborhoods, but everyone's either staying or leaving.
Zillow, May 2026Orlando, FL
$388K home · $1,977/mo · 22.3°C
Theme parks instead of culture, humidity instead of seasons.
Zillow, May 2026Charlotte, NC
$390K home · $1,740/mo · 16.1°C
Growing fast enough to feel lucky you moved here before everyone else did.
Zillow, May 2026San Antonio, TX
$280K home · $1,404/mo · 20.6°C
Cheap living, but you're still in Texas heat, forever.
Zillow, May 2026Portland, OR
$552K home · $1,797/mo · 10.4°C
Great weather and cheap rent until you realize everyone moved here for that too.
Zillow, May 2026Sacramento, CA
$583K home · $2,283/mo · 16.6°C
Capital city charm without the crowds or your soul's entire paycheck.
Zillow, May 2026Pittsburgh, PA
$231K home · $1,527/mo · 10.6°C
Cheap housing and friendly people, but your coat lives here year-round.
Zillow, May 2026Cincinnati, OH
$311K home · $1,575/mo · 12.3°C
Cheap rent and houses, but your friends moved to bigger cities.
Zillow, May 2026Austin, TX
$429K home · $1,635/mo · 20.2°C
Tech jobs everywhere, but your neighbors arrived yesterday too.
Zillow, May 2026Las Vegas, NV
$431K home · $1,737/mo · 19.9°C
Perfect weather and cheap rent mean accepting eternal casinos and transience.
Zillow, May 2026Kansas City, MO
$330K home · $1,548/mo · 12.6°C
Nice houses, friendly people, but your Netflix queue won't distract from the weather.
Zillow, May 2026Columbus, OH
$334K home · $1,524/mo · 11°C
Cheap rent and homeownership, but you're trading weather and cultural density.
Zillow, May 2026Indianapolis, IN
$296K home · $1,553/mo · 11°C
Cheap rent means tolerating actual seasons and strip malls forever.
Zillow, May 2026Cleveland, OH
$252K home · $1,461/mo · 10.3°C
Cheap housing can't make winter shorter or the job market wider.
Zillow, May 2026San Jose, CA
$1610K home · $3,625/mo · 14°C
Perfect weather, impossible rent, and your roommates' roommates.
Zillow, May 2026Nashville, TN
$456K home · $1,798/mo · 14.9°C
Hot music scene, hotter summers, everyone's your neighbor now.
Zillow, May 2026Virginia Beach, VA
$374K home · $1,862/mo · 15.6°C
Nice weather and cheap rent, but everyone's military or retired.
Zillow, May 2026Providence, RI
$525K home · $2,163/mo · 10.1°C
Cheap living in a gray city where everyone knows your business.
Zillow, May 2026Jacksonville, FL
$353K home · $1,701/mo · 20.5°C
Cheap living in a sprawling city where you'll drive everywhere constantly.
Zillow, May 2026Milwaukee, WI
$390K home · $1,538/mo · 8.3°C
Cheap housing, but you'll hate the winters and know everyone.
Zillow, May 2026Oklahoma City, OK
$247K home · $1,399/mo · 16°C
You get space and cheap rent, but your social calendar stays empty.
Zillow, May 2026Raleigh, NC
$438K home · $1,694/mo · 15.4°C
Thriving tech hub where you can actually afford to stay—for now.
Zillow, May 2026Memphis, TN
$247K home · $1,441/mo · 16.5°C
Cheap living won't fix the schools or the crime.
Zillow, May 2026Richmond, VA
$398K home · $1,763/mo · 14.5°C
Cheap housing meets limited job market; bring remote work or ambition.
Zillow, May 2026Louisville, KY
$283K home · $1,385/mo · 12.7°C
Cheap living where nothing happens, but that's exactly the point.
Zillow, May 2026