Home values ​​have risen dramatically in some cities, but have stalled completely in others. Where does your city rank?

How home values ​​have transformed in the United States since the 1970s

Realtor.com recently analyzed 50 years of housing data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Show data Home values ​​unsurprisingly rose in all 50 of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas from 1975 to 2024. But what emerged were some shocking disparities.

The divide in the US housing market is very clear. In some cities, like Memphis and Cleveland, prices have barely risen at all in 50 years. Conversely, in places like San Jose, property values ​​have nearly quadrupled.

Why the big difference? According to Realtor.com Chief Economist Jake Krimmel, this is mainly because the country is shifting from a manufacturing to a service and information economy. “This development has affected different places through the labor and housing markets,” he said. “Some regions gained significantly from this shift, while others got the short end of the stick.”

Cities where home values ​​have risen the most

Over the past 50 years, many of the largest home price gains have come together in California. San Jose led the way by a large margin, mainly because it is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, where many technology companies are based. In this area, and in neighboring San Francisco, which ranked second, high-paying jobs are plentiful. At the same time, not enough homes are being built to meet demand, due to a combination of geographic boundaries and zoning hurdles.

It’s a similar story for many other places in the top ten. In cities like Seattle, Boston, and New York, there are plenty of decent-paying jobs, but restrictive zoning and land-use rules make it difficult to build enough new homes. When supply cannot keep up with demand, prices inevitably rise.

Interestingly, all of these places either hug the coast or, in Denver’s case, are close to the mountains. This limits developable land.

Metro where home values ​​stabilized

While people flocked to places like California, Seattle, Boston, and New York in search of high-paying jobs, other cities, mostly located in the interior, lagged behind. Memphis and Cleveland were the hardest hit. In these two cities, home values ​​have increased by only 2% in 50 years.

In Cleveland, the center of the steel and iron industries, the population dwindled as manufacturers moved their factories abroad and jobs dried up. This same issue also explains why Pittsburgh and Detroit are in the top 10. These cities, which were engines of the American economy, suffered when the economy transformed.

The lack of good-paying jobs is also a major reason why home prices in Memphis are stagnant.

See how all 50 cities stack up

Wondering how much home prices in your city have risen over the past 50 years and how that compares to other places? Check out the full Realtor.com rankings below.