In this particular case a starter home is specifically an average of the bottom third of the housing market. Zillow recently reported that, using that as the metric, 242 American cities now have starter homes costing one million dollars.

The nationwide average for a starter home is about $200k, which is still a lot, but not the huge figure that's been making the news this week.

Well you say that's the norm, but the map clearly shows this is predominantly a New York and California situation, and otherwise a relatively isolated scenario for one or two cities in some states.

That would seem to frame 48 states as low cost of living areas in general. It's understandable to see why the figures would not be relatable to most folks.

I had a job prospect in the Bay area of California and the cost of living pretty much nixed it for me, that the relatively huge pay increase was more than erased by the housing costs alone.