California is notorious for having high living expenses, especially for housing, so it is no surprise that a $300,000 homebuying budget won’t get you far in the Golden State.
Researchers at Go Banking Rates, a personal finance website, analyzed how much a $300,000 budget would get prospective home buyers in each state. California wasn’t considered the best place to look for homes with a fixed budget.
Researchers analyzed the typical single-family home prices in each state using the latest Zillow data to determine which states are the most and least cost-effective for those that have a homebuying budget.
In the Golden State, the average cost of a home is $744,023, reseachers found. Experts with the California Association of Realtors found that the median price per square foot is $373.
Those with a budget of $300,000 could only buy 804 square feet.
Researchers found that a $300,000 home budget also wouldn’t go far in the following states:
- Idaho
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- Oregon
- Utah
- Colorado
- Washington
- Massachusetts
- Hawaii
Hawaii was considered to be the state where a $300,000 home budget would give prospective home buyers the least bang for their buck.
However, it’s not all bad news for potential home buyers with a fixed budget. The study considered the following states gave buyers the most value on a fixed homebuying budget.
- West Virginia
- Mississippi
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
- Kentucky
- Oklahoma
- Iowa
- Alabama
- Ohio
- Kansas
Kansas was considered to be the “best” state to purchase a home with a $300,000 budget.