California is home to seven of the top 10 most expensive ZIP codes in the United States, according to a list compiled by Home Bay real estate company.
According to the list published March 27, Atherton—in the San Francisco metro area—came out on top. Houses in the 94027 ZIP code typically cost $7.36 million on average.
Beverly Hills 90210, made famous by the popular television series in the 1990s, came in second with a median home value of $5.11 million.
Other California cities to make the top 10 include the Los Altos Hills ZIP code 94022, near San Jose, with $4.26 million median house prices for fourth place.
Santa Monica ZIP code 90402 came in sixth with typical house prices at $4.17 million. That was followed by Montecito’s 93108 ZIP code, home to Oprah and the royal couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, with homes reaching $3.94 million on average.
Rancho Santa Fe’s ZIP code 92067 in the San Diego metro area came in eighth place with homes averaging $3.90 million, and the seaside city of Newport Beach—ZIP code 92657—rounded out the list in 10th place with median house prices at $3.86 million.
California’s high cost of living is one reason many residents and businesses have left the state in the past few years. According to Chapman Economics Professor James Doti, who has studied migration trends in the state, the losses began in 2011.
Chapman University and the University of California’s Irvine, Los Angeles, and San Diego campuses recently surveyed chief executive officers of companies throughout the state.
According to the survey, half of the CEOs suggested they were planning to leave the state because of high taxes and regulation on businesses, as well as high housing prices, according to Doti.
Faith Lersey, a California resident, recently told California Insider for “Leaving California: The Untold Story” documentary, the state’s high home prices has outpaced her family’s savings efforts.
“When my grandparents were starting their family, my grandmother was a stay-at-home mom, and my grandfather did not have a full college education. He drove around Los Angeles delivering bread, and that was his job. And they were able to make life work, such that they were able to purchase a home,” Lersey said. “It wasn’t handed to them. They had to want it and planned to own a home, but it was in reach for them. It was possible.”
“Even though we’re trying our best, we’ll never be able to achieve the life that our parents achieved, or our grandparents achieved,” she added. “The housing market is outpacing even my ardent savings efforts. It makes people feel like the environment around them isn’t the fertile soil it once was to create a great life for themselves and for their children and grandchildren.”
In 1988, when the average boomer turned 33, the median home sale price was $110,000 and the median household income was $27,230, without adjusting for inflation. In 2022, when the average millennial turned 33, the median home sale price was $433,100 and the median household income was $70,784, according to Home Bay.
The study also found the national median home price has risen 42 percent since January 2020.
Spending $100,000 on a home in January 1990 would equate to spending $377,724 on a home today, according to Home Bay.
Other expensive cities to make the list were also in coastal states.
In New York, Sagaponack, in the New York City metro, reached third place for most expensive median home prices at $4.75 million. Water Mill, also in the metro area, was the ninth most-expensive ZIP code at $3.87 average house prices.
Medina, in the Seattle metro, came in fifth for having pricy homes averaging $4.18 million.
