If you want to buy a house this year, you may well be paying around $199,200, the median price for a home in the U.S., according to Zillow.
That’s far more than you’d have forked over 10, 20 or 50 years ago. In 1940, the median home value in the U.S. was just $2,938. In 1980, it was $47,200, and by 2000, it had risen to $119,600. Even adjusted for inflation, the median home price in 1940 would only have been $30,600 in 2000 dollars, according to data from the U.S. Census.
Of course, location matters. The median value for a house in New Mexico in 1940 was $656 — or $6,800 when adjusted to 2000 dollars. The same year, the median value for a home in California clocked in at $3,527, or the equivalent of $36,700.
Home prices haven’t risen uniformly. The median home now costs about the same in Connecticut and Colorado, just under $167,000, but that’s a significant shift upwards for Colorado since, half a century ago, the median Rocky Mountain home cost less than half as much as one in southern New England.
Look below to see how the cost of owning a home has changed in all 50 U.S. states since 1940.
AlabamaMedian home price in 1940: $16,800 AlaskaMedian home price in 1940: N/A ArizonaMedian home price in 1940: $14,600 ArkansasMedian home price in 1940: $11,400 CaliforniaMedian home price in 1940: $36,700 ColoradoMedian home price in 1940: $21,800 Connecticut
Median home price in 1940: $48,000 DelawareMedian home price in 1940: $43,300 FloridaMedian home price in 1940: $23,100 GeorgiaMedian home price in 1940: $20,400 HawaiiMedian home price in 1940: N/A IdahoMedian home price in 1940: $16,700 IllinoisMedian home price in 1940: $34,100 IndianaMedian home price in 1940: $25,000 IowaMedian home price in 1940: $23,400 KansasMedian home price in 1940: $18,000 KentuckyMedian home price in 1940: $21,600 |
LouisianaMedian home price in 1940: $14,700 MaineMedian home price in 1940: $20,900 MarylandMedian home price in 1940: $31,500 MassachusettsMedian home price in 1940: $39,000 MichiganMedian home price in 1940: $29,800 MinnesotaMedian home price in 1940: $31,500 MississippiMedian home price in 1940: $12,400 MissouriMedian home price in 1940: $24,900 MontanaMedian home price in 1940: $17,200 NebraskaMedian home price in 1940: $22,400 NevadaMedian home price in 1940: $20,700 New HampshireMedian home price in 1940: $26,100 New JerseyMedian home price in 1940: $47,100 New MexicoMedian home price in 1940: $6,800 New YorkMedian home price in 1940: $45,700 North CarolinaMedian home price in 1940: $18,800 North DakotaMedian home price in 1940: $16,900 |
OhioMedian home price in 1940: $35,500 OklahomaMedian home price in 1940: $13,500 OregonMedian home price in 1940: $24,400 PennsylvaniaMedian home price in 1940: $33,400 Rhode IslandMedian home price in 1940: $40,000 South CarolinaMedian home price in 1940: $22,300 South DakotaMedian home price in 1940: $16,800 TennesseeMedian home price in 1940: $19,000 TexasMedian home price in 1940: $17,600 UtahMedian home price in 1940: $24,100 VermontMedian home price in 1940: $29,500 VirginiaMedian home price in 1940: $27,400 WashingtonMedian home price in 1940: $24,500 West VirginiaMedian home price in 1940: $24,500 WisconsinMedian home price in 1940: $33,600 WyomingMedian home price in 1940: $22,600 |