The $300,000 Home in 20 U.S. States

In the District of Columbia, $300,000 affords roughly 581 square feet, whereas homebuyers in West Virginia would be able to get nearly six times the space. 

Using Zillow home price data, personal finance website GOBankingRates calculated the 10 cities where $300,000 buys the most square footage, and the 10 cities where it buys the least amount of space. The least expensive states were mostly concentrated in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast, with West Virginia at the top of the list and Missouri bringing up the rear with 2,812 square feet, CNBC reports. Surprisingly, Montana was found to be one of the most expensive states, attributed to the state's current housing shortage after an influx of oil field workers.

Some of the results — which peg the Northeast and West Coast as high-cost and the heartland as more affordable — may not come as a shock, according to Cameron Huddleston, life and money columnist for GOBankingRates. "What is a surprise is how much you're going to pay," Huddleston said, "Perhaps it's not in the cards for you now while you're working, but in retirement moving might be an option."

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