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Every prospective homeowner wants to get the most bang for their buck—but what exactly constitutes "bang" in today's housing market? Well, the answer varies widely from city to city. In a new study by Zillow, the real estate company broke down just what $1 million gets you in cities around the country—and the results speak to the staggering range of today's real estate market.

"You can buy a mansion for $1 million in four Texas cities, while $1 million often won't even get you a second bedroom in San Francisco," opens the study. Zillow analyzed 100 cities to achieve their numbers, crunching the data to determine averages across these cities and within the U.S. as a whole.

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"Owning a $1 million home was once a status symbol, but now, due to escalating home prices, it feels closer to the price of entry for homeownership in parts of the country," explains Cheryl Young, senior economist at Zillow. "Nationwide, the typical $1 million home at 2,200 square feet may not be sufficient to impress colleagues or neighbors. Only in the most affordable markets, such as some in the south, will you find $1 million homes that verge on palatial, and the reality for some markets – particularly those on the coast and in California – is that $1 million homes often stand out more for their diminutive size given their hefty price tags."

Proof? A cool $1 million in El Paso, Texas will get you an average of 7,000 square feet, while the same magic number in San Francisco (whose skyrocketing housing market in the tech era has been well-documented) will only buy around 900.

The cities studied with the largest average home size for $1 million were El Paso (7,030), Knoxville, Tennessee (6,520), Spring, Texas (5,890), St. Louis, Missouri (5,630), and Greensboro, North Carolina (5,540). These homes range from an average 5 bedrooms in El Paso to 4 in Greensboro. Meanwhile, of the cities with the smallest homes, the top 4 are in California: San Francisco (1,150), Fremont (1,410), Oakland (1,540), and San Jose (1,540)—all with 3 bedrooms. Honolulu is next on this list, with average square footage of 1,710—but an average of 4 bedrooms. New York is next, clocking in at 1,730 with 3 bedrooms.

Zillow also looked at the cities with the biggest shares of non-single-family $1 million homes—that is, where a mil won't even get you a detached house, but rather an apartment or condo. Those cities are: San Francisco (condo average square footage of 890), New York (cooperative with an average of 1,000 square feet), Jersey City (condo, 1,190 square feet), and Washington, D.C. (row house, 1,650 square feet).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most affordable homes can be found outside of major cities. "Buyers willing to forgo the shorter commutes and plentiful amenities that often come with living in a principal city will usually be rewarded with a larger home," the study explains. "For example, those living in our nation's capital can trade in their 1,650-square-foot row house in Washington, D.C., for a 4,700-square-foot home with five bedrooms by moving to neighboring Silver Spring."

Hear that, city folk? Maybe it's time to pack it up and head to the 'burbs—that commuter train isn't sounding so bad now.

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Hadley Keller Digital Director Hadley Keller is a writer and editor based in New York, covering design, interiors, and culture.

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