A record 146 cities became new “million-dollar cities” in 2021, according to Zillow. There are now 481 cities in which the typical home value is at least $1 million. If current rates of appreciation hold, 49 more could join the $1 million club by the summer.
The number of cities that crossed the $1 million threshold in 2021 is almost triple those in 2020, underscoring a record-setting year of home appreciation that saw the typical home gain 19.6 percent in value.
“The surge in demand for housing last year sent home values skyrocketing, even in places where prices already were sky-high, and that helped tip a record number of cities into the million-dollar club,” Zillow Senior Economist Jeff Tucker said in a release. “The locations of these newly seven-figure towns bust the myth that everyone fled California and the Northeast last year, as California, Massachusetts and New York led the pack for the most new cities with home values above $1 million. Still, we’re seeing how the geography of wealth in the U.S. has begun to shift, as 2021 was the first year for both Idaho and Montana to place any cities on this list, and now those Western states boast three million-dollar cities each.”
In total, 60 percent of all million-dollar cities lie within eight metro areas, and almost half (44 percent) are in California, according to Zillow data. The San Francisco and New York metro areas led the way with 76 million-dollar cities each. The Los Angeles metro area was third with 57 cities, and San Jose, Calif., was fourth with 22. The rest of the top 10 metro areas include Boston with 18 cities, Seattle with 16, Miami with 14, Washington, D.C., with 11, and Santa Maria–Santa Barbara and Santa Rosa, Calif., with nine each.
Indian Creek, Fla., an exclusive 300-acre island in Biscayne Bay in Miami, is the most expensive city in the country, with a typical home value of around $28.3 million. The city’s population is under 100 residents, including celebrities Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen. In the No. 2 spot is Atherton, Calif., a small town on the San Francisco peninsula where the typical home value is around $7.7 million. Hunts Point, Wash., Jupiter Island, Fla., and Sagaponack, N.Y., fill out the top five, with typical home values of roughly $6 million each.
The rest of the top 10 include Hillsborough, Calif. ($5.4 million); Los Altos Hills, Calif. ($5.3 million); Golden Beach, Fla. ($5.2 million); Belleair Shore, Fla., ($5 million), and Belvedere, Calif. ($4.7 million.)