Meet the cheapest US states to buy a house

A new study analyzing Zillow data has found that the monthly median sale price of a house last year was more than $500,000 in Utah, California and Colorado — and more than a staggering $800,000 in Hawaii.

The study, conducted by Studio City realtors, found that Hawaii clocked in as the most expensive state in the U.S. for homebuyers. On the island, the average home price was $805,775 — hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the cheapest state on the list.

Studio City realtor Tony Mariotti noted that market turbulence contributed to a “significant increase” in house prices across the U.S.

Home prices went up nationwide in February after months of declines amid low inventory and a small uptick in demand — and experts have said they expect affordability will continue to be a problem for prospective homebuyers in the months ahead.

Here are the priciest and cheapest U.S. states to buy a home:

The most expensive states to buy a home

Eight states and Washington, D.C., saw a monthly median sale price of a house last year of $400,000 or higher, with Oregon sitting at that exact figure. 

Washington state, Nevada, Montana and Washington, D.C., came in between $402,900 and $487,500. 

California, Colorado and Hawaii were the top three most expensive, at $537,000, $537,125 and $805,775 in monthly median sale prices last year, respectively.

Costs differed in different areas within states: for example, the median monthly sale price of a house last year in California’s cheapest city of Red Bluff was $320,000 — while the ticket in its most expensive city of San Jose was $1,370,000.

There are still states where you can find affordable housing

Homebuyers looking for a bargain might have better luck in the Midwest. The cheapest state nationwide was Illinois, where the monthly median sale price of a house last year was $133,750.

The median sale price in Illinois’s cheapest city, Galesburg, was $90,000, while its most expensive, Chicago, sat at $282,750.

Ohio and Oklahoma came in as the country’s second and third cheapest state, at a monthly median sale price last year of $155,000 and $175,063, respectively. 

Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, West Virginia and New York all logged median sale prices under $200,000 — and the median sale price in Alabama was exactly at that price point.

Household income is a factor

The Studio City realtors’ report found that in Illinois, the state with the cheapest medial sale price for a house last year, the median household income was $79,253.

In Hawaii, the most expensive state, the median household income was only about $3,000 more than in Illinois, or $82,199, even though the monthly median sale price of a house last year in the two states differed nearly $700,000.