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You now need $2 million to buy a home in these California counties

File - Home sale signs are posted along Topanga Canyon road in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2023. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors on reports on existing home sales for October. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

For most Americans, the idea of spending $1 million on a home is simply too far out of reach— not to mention $2 million. In two California counties, however, that’s the new reality.

Based on the latest sales figures from the California Association of Realtors, median single-family home prices have reached $2 million in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, home to Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Mateo County, where the median price was $2.15 million in April, surpassed the $2 million mark during the COVID-19 pandemic before falling below it in late 2023. Homes in neighboring Santa Clara County reached a median price of $2 million for the very first time last month, the data shows.

San Francisco City and County and Marin County aren’t too far behind, with median home prices of $1.8 million and $1.7 million, respectively.

In all, 10 California counties are north of $1 million and with a perpetual housing shortage, experts say there is no reason to expect prices to fall significantly in the short or long term.

Yet, sales are also climbing: up more than 4% year over year, according to CAR, and homes are staying on the market for fewer average days than a year ago.

Jordan Levine, chief economist at the realtor’s association, says house hunters have come to accept that historically low mortgage rates of 2% to 3% seen during the COVID-19 pandemic are firmly in the rear-view mirror.

“I think folks are starting to realize that 6% is actually a pretty normal rate by historical standards. Those 3% [rates] were really the outlier, and given that prices continue to rise, I think that’s motivating a lot of buyers to get off the sidelines,” Levine said.

Statewide, the median home price exceeded $900,000 for the first time in April.

California Median Home Prices by County

CountyMedian Single-Family Home Price (April 2024)
San Mateo$2,150,000
Santa Clara$2,000,000
San Francisco$1,800,000
Marin$1,700,000
Orange$1,440,000  
Santa Cruz$1,420,000
Alameda$1,401,250
Santa Barbara$1,400,000
Mono$1,077,380
San Diego$1,047,500  
Monterey$986,500
Napa$950,000
Contra-Costa$940,000
Ventura$940,000
San Luis Obispo$894,500  
Sonoma$850,000
Los Angeles$825,970
San Benito$807,500
El Dorado$757,000
Placer$671,740
Riverside$650,000
Yolo$615,000  
Nevada$599,000
Solano$590,000  
Mendocino$583,500
Mariposa$549,500  
Sacramento$548,580
San Joaquin$540,000  
San Bernardino$516,080  
Calaveras$493,000  
Stanislaus$485,000
Madera$457,500
Tuolumne$452,000  
Butte$450,000  
Del Norte$445,000
Sutter$428,500  
Yuba$427,950
Amador$426,500
Fresno$421,940
Humboldt$400,000  
Merced$399,000
Tulare$379,990
Kings$379,000  
Imperial$377,500
Kern$377,000
Glenn$362,000
Shasta$360,000
Lake$340,000
Plumas$320,000
Tehama$309,750  
Siskiyou$281,500
Trinity$212,000
Lassen$205,000
California Association of Realtors April 2024 Homes Sales Data

Worth noting: A “median” is a middle value similar to an average, so each county has homes selling at prices below and above the median.