Arlington Homes Rank In Top 20 Most Expensive Per Square Foot: Study

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington is among the most expensive places to live in the U.S. based on the price of a home per square foot, according to a new report.

At the current national median home price of $375,000, a homebuyer in Arlington would get about 784 square feet. That comes to $452.65 per square foot, according to RealtyHop, a real estate listing online platform.

Arlington ranked as the 18th most expensive place to buy a home per square foot, the report said.

Homebuyers in San Francisco would get the least space at the current median home price of $375,000, followed by New York City, Fremont, California, Boston, and San Jose, California, RealtyHop said.

To create the report, RealtyHop analyzed home price data taken from more than 1.5 million for-sale listings on RealtyHop between January 2023 and March 2023. Listings included residential single-family homes, condominiums, co-ops, and townhouses actively on the market, but excluded those that did not list square footage.

RealtyHop calculated the median price per square foot by dividing each listing’s price by its total square footage. These statistics were then aggregated based on the area, with the median taken for each city.

The company used the National Association of Realtors’ latest March median existing-home sales price of $375,000 to calculate the square footage one could purchase at that price.

"For many, the tradeoff between space and cost is a deciding factor on where they choose to settle down," RealtyHop said. "Should you buy a tiny studio in Manhattan or a starter home in Charlotte? The reality is that living in certain places often means downsizing your expectations."

RealtyHop said its analysis provides a snapshot of where a homebuyer's dollar goes the furthest.

The District of Columbia ranked as the 14th most expensive place per square foot to buy a home, according to the report. At the current national median home price of $375,000, a homebuyer in D.C. would get about 677 square feet. That comes to $537.04 per square foot.

The city where you can get the most space in a home for $375,000 is Detroit, where you could buy a 5,109-square-foot home. The price per square foot for a home in Detroit is $69.30, according to the report.

Birmingham, Alabama is the next cheapest, with $375,000 getting homebuyers 4,962 square feet of space in a home, followed by Cleveland, Lubbock, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas.

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