LendingTree Reveals the Most Valuable Cities in America
CHARLOTTE, N.C., August 27, 2018 – LendingTree®, the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, today released its study on the most valuable cities in America.
LendingTree researchers analyzed the total value of residential real estate in American cities. The real estate values are from the My LendingTree property value database, which is a collection of real estate data of more than 155 million U.S. properties. The total value of real estate in metropolitan areas in the database was $26.2 trillion, close to the Federal Reserve’s estimate of total residential real estate value of $28.4 trillion.
The study also compared the total value to the GDP of countries around the world, pairing cities with their equivalent country GDP values. Of course, the comparison is not apples to apples: GDP represents a single year’s output, while the value of homes persists year after year (mostly upward and a few times declining).
“American households own $28.4 trillion of residential real estate, a significant part of the $100 trillion in household net worth,” said Tendayi Kapfidze, Chief Economist at LendingTree. “Financial assets add $81.7 trillion, consumer durable goods add $5.7 trillion while debts, including mortgage, subtract $15.6 trillion. The real estate wealth is not evenly distributed across the country and is largely concentrated in metropolitan areas.”
Key findings:
- New York has the most valuable real estate in the U.S. at $2.6 trillion — just about on par with the entire GDP of France for 2017. In fact, this is greater than the GDP of all but just six countries — India, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and the United States itself.
- Los Angeles is second at $2.2 trillion, equivalent to the GDP of Brazil, and San Francisco is third at $1.2 trillion, equivalent to Mexico’s GDP.
- The top three are the only cities above a trillion dollars and things drop off pretty rapidly from there. Cities after eleventh-ranked San Diego are all valued under $500 billion; after 25th-ranked Charlotte, under $200 billion and after 46th-ranked Hartford, under $100 billion.
- The Federal Reserve values total residential real estate owned by households at $28.4 trillion. We found that the top 10 cities account for almost 40 percent of that value. The top 50 add up to about 70 percent of the total.
- Our top 50 is rounded out by Boulder, Colo., Milwaukee, and Naples, Fla., with real estate values equivalent to the GDPs of Sri Lanka, Kenya and Ethiopia, respectively.
- Although our list here shows the top 50 cities, we calculated the value of every metro area in the U.S. The least valuable metro was Beckley, W. Va., with real estate valued at $189 million. This is slightly more than the price on one of the most expensive houses available for sale today: 924 Bel Air Rd in Los Angeles is listed at $188 million.
To view the full report, visit: https://www.lendingtree.com/home/most-valuable-cities/.
| Top 50 Cities Ranked by Total Value | ||||
| Rank | City | Total Value (in billions) |
Median Value |
Closest Country Equivalent |
| 1 | New York | $2,549 | $454,000 | France |
| 2 | Los Angeles | $2,176 | $622,000 | Brazil |
| 3 | San Francisco | $1,249 | $891,000 | Mexico |
| 4 | Chicago | $813 | $223,000 | Saudi Arabia |
| 5 | Washington | $795 | $395,000 | Saudi Arabia |
| 6 | Boston | $697 | $459,000 | Saudi Arabia |
| 7 | Miami | $648 | $267,000 | Argentina |
| 8 | Seattle | $641 | $461,000 | Argentina |
| 9 | Dallas | $549 | $213,000 | Sweden |
| 10 | San Jose, Calif. | $535 | $1,069,000 | Poland |
| 11 | San Diego | $522 | $563,000 | Belgium |
| 12 | Philadelphia | $494 | $220,000 | Thailand |
| 13 | Houston | $450 | $192,000 | Iran |
| 14 | Phoenix | $444 | $242,000 | Iran |
| 15 | Atlanta | $420 | $191,000 | Austria |
| 16 | Riverside, Calif. | $413 | $332,000 | Norway |
| 17 | Denver | $374 | $391,000 | Israel |
| 18 | Minneapolis | $331 | $260,000 | Denmark |
| 19 | Portland, Ore. | $304 | $378,000 | Chile |
| 20 | Sacramento, Calif. | $301 | $386,000 | Chile |
| 21 | Baltimore | $289 | $270,000 | Chile |
| 22 | Detroit | $262 | $149,000 | Bangladesh |
| 23 | Tampa, Fla. | $248 | $190,000 | Egypt |
| 24 | Austin, Texas | $222 | $282,000 | Vietnam |
| 25 | Charlotte, N.C. | $216 | $187,000 | Peru |
| 26 | Honolulu | $198 | $677,000 | Iraq |
| 27 | St. Louis | $193 | $154,000 | Algeria |
| 28 | Las Vegas | $181 | $239,000 | Algeria |
| 29 | Orlando, Fla. | $176 | $216,000 | Qatar |
| 30 | Bridgeport, Conn. | $163 | $390,000 | Kazakhstan |
| 31 | Nashville, Tenn. | $162 | $235,000 | Kazakhstan |
| 32 | San Antonio | $159 | $191,000 | Hungary |
| 33 | Pittsburgh | $150 | $149,000 | Angola |
| 34 | Providence, R.I. | $147 | $266,000 | Angola |
| 35 | Cincinnati | $146 | $158,000 | Angola |
| 36 | Kansas City, Mo. | $144 | $169,000 | Angola |
| 37 | Cape Coral, Fla. | $144 | $204,000 | Angola |
| 38 | Virginia Beach, Va. | $141 | $221,000 | Angola |
| 39 | Columbus, Ohio | $141 | $174,000 | Angola |
| 40 | North Port, Fla. | $125 | $229,000 | Angola |
| 41 | Richmond, Va. | $120 | $218,000 | Morocco |
| 42 | Oxnard, Calif. | $119 | $557,000 | Morocco |
| 43 | Jacksonville, Fla. | $115 | $179,000 | Morocco |
| 44 | Cleveland | $112 | $131,000 | Morocco |
| 45 | Indianapolis | $107 | $127,000 | Ecuador |
| 46 | Hartford, Conn. | $103 | $223,000 | Ecuador |
| 47 | New Orleans | $93 | $181,000 | Sri Lanka |
| 48 | Boulder, Colo. | $88 | $459,000 | Sri Lanka |
| 49 | Milwaukee | $86 | $206,000 | Kenya |
| 50 | Naples, Fla. | $83 | $333,000 | Ethiopia |
About LendingTree
LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) is the nation’s leading online marketplace that connects consumers with the choices they need to be confident in their financial decisions. LendingTree empowers consumers to shop for financial services the same way they would shop for airline tickets or hotel stays, comparing multiple offers from a nationwide network of over 500 partners in one simple search, and can choose the option that best fits their financial needs. Services include mortgage loans, mortgage refinances, auto loans, personal loans, business loans, student refinances, credit cards and more. Through the My LendingTree platform, consumers receive free credit scores, credit monitoring and recommendations to improve credit health. My LendingTree proactively compares consumers’ credit accounts against offers on our network, and notifies consumers when there is an opportunity to save money. In short, LendingTree’s purpose is to help simplify financial decisions for life’s meaningful moments through choice, education and support. LendingTree, LLC is a subsidiary of LendingTree, Inc. For more information, go to www.lendingtree.com, dial 800-555-TREE, like our Facebook page and/or follow us on Twitter @LendingTree.