The share of starter homes in the housing market has fallen as rising prices have created more competition among both first-time and repeat buyers. As of August 2026, the national starter home share was 36.2%, compared with 38.1% of active inventory in August 2019. Still, some metros have a higher than average share of starter homes. A report by real estate marketing platform Realtor.com analyzes ZIP Codes across the U.S. to determine which have the most starter homes.

The report finds that of the 100 largest metros, 18.3% are starter-home dominant and 20.3% are trade-up dominant. The remaining 61.4% are mixed.

Which metros have the highest concentration of starter homes?

Overall, the Midwest has the most starter homes. Both the Kansas City and St. Louis metros boast some of the highest shares of starter homes and the most starter-home dominant ZIP Codes. In St. Louis, the share of starter homes reaches 40.7%; it also has 36 starter-home dominant ZIP Codes. Likewise, Kansas City recorded a starter-home share of 37.7% and 39 starter-home dominant ZIP Codes.

However, the highest starter-home share overall is in Toledo, Ohio. The share in this metro reaches 42.1%, followed by St. Louis, and then Detroit at 39.8%.

Some metros are seeing the share of starter homes increase

While not all metros have a high share of starter homes, some are seeing that share grow. The metros gaining the most starter share generally started below the national norm. Boise, Idaho, is one of those metros. There, the share of starter homes grew by 4.7 points, and in Portland, Ore., that share grew by 4 points since 2019. Meanwhile, in Des Moines, they grew by 3.7 points; in San Jose, Calif., they grew by 2.9 points; and in Denver, they grew by 2.5 points since 2019.