Million-Dollar Homes, Modest Incomes (2024)
About one in six million-dollar homes in America is owned by a household earning under $75,000 a year. A look at where the asset-rich live on ordinary paychecks, from Census microdata.
Key findings
- The United States has about 6,940,864 owner-occupied homes worth $1 million or more.
- 16.0% of them (±0.3), roughly 1,109,814 homes, belong to households earning under $75,000 a year.
- 9.8% are owned by households earning under $50,000, the income of a single modest paycheck or a retirement pension.
- Among the states with the most million-dollar homes, South Carolina has the highest share owned on a sub-$75,000 income (20.6%).
This looks at every owner-occupied home valued at $1,000,000 or more in the 2024 1-Year American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample, and asks how many are owned by households with modest incomes. Home value is the owner's own estimate of what the property would sell for (VALP); income is total household income from all sources (HINCP). A home counts as "modest income" here if the household earns under $75,000. Estimates are weighted with the housing-unit weight (WGTP). A high share does not mean distress: many of these owners bought long ago or have paid off the mortgage and now live on a pension in a house the market has since revalued past $1 million. The Census Bureau top-codes very high home values by state, so the $1 million threshold is a floor, not a ceiling.
United States, 2024
Where million-dollar homes meet modest incomes
| Share of million-dollar homes | Share of $1M+ homes owned on under $75k income |
|---|---|
| South Carolina | 20.6% |
| Hawaii | 20% |
| Tennessee | 19.4% |
| Florida | 19.4% |
| New York | 18.9% |
| North Carolina | 17.8% |
| Oregon | 17.6% |
| Georgia | 16.5% |
| Arizona | 16.3% |
| California | 16.3% |
| Pennsylvania | 15.8% |
| Illinois | 14.5% |
| Colorado | 13.4% |
| Texas | 13% |
| Massachusetts | 12.7% |
| Washington | 12.5% |
| New Jersey | 11.3% |
| Connecticut | 10.8% |
| Maryland | 8.4% |
| Virginia | 8% |
Limited to states with at least 100 surveyed million-dollar homes so the estimates are stable; see the table for margins of error.
States with the most million-dollar homes
| State | $1M+ homes | Owned on <$75k | Owned on <$50k | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 2,413,934 | 16.3% ± 0.5 | 9.9% | 29,172 |
| New York | 577,461 | 18.9% ± 1.1 | 11.1% | 6,184 |
| Florida | 465,105 | 19.4% ± 1.2 | 12.1% | 5,638 |
| Washington | 346,480 | 12.5% ± 1.0 | 7.3% | 4,162 |
| Texas | 308,720 | 13.0% ± 1.1 | 8.4% | 3,899 |
| Massachusetts | 273,375 | 12.7% ± 1.2 | 7.3% | 3,271 |
| New Jersey | 219,325 | 11.3% ± 1.2 | 6.4% | 2,821 |
| Colorado | 214,665 | 13.4% ± 1.3 | 7.9% | 2,605 |
| Virginia | 197,849 | 8.0% ± 0.9 | 5.4% | 2,385 |
| North Carolina | 140,413 | 17.8% ± 2.0 | 12.7% | 1,716 |
| Arizona | 131,710 | 16.3% ± 1.8 | 9.1% | 1,587 |
| Georgia | 129,755 | 16.5% ± 1.9 | 8.6% | 1,609 |
| Hawaii | 119,178 | 20.0% ± 2.5 | 12.7% | 1,391 |
| Illinois | 110,823 | 14.5% ± 2.5 | 10.9% | 1,214 |
| Maryland | 107,206 | 8.4% ± 1.4 | 5.0% | 1,534 |
| Tennessee | 100,374 | 19.4% ± 2.3 | 12.3% | 1,217 |
| Pennsylvania | 95,960 | 15.8% ± 2.1 | 10.3% | 1,044 |
| Oregon | 84,744 | 17.6% ± 2.7 | 11.4% | 998 |
| Connecticut | 80,073 | 10.8% ± 1.9 | 7.5% | 1,089 |
| South Carolina | 77,869 | 20.6% ± 2.7 | 12.5% | 1,010 |
Ranked by number of million-dollar homes. Margins of error are at the 90% confidence level, from 80 replicate weights. Sample is the unweighted number of surveyed million-dollar homes.
Data Sources & Methodology
The figures on this page are computed directly from the source data below. Narrative text accompanies the figures but never generates them.
American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS)
- Publisher:
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Vintage:
- 2024 1-Year
- Access:
- BigQuery
- Cadence:
- annual
De-identified individual person and housing records from the American Community Survey, the Census Bureau’s largest household survey. The 1-year PUMS file lets analysts compute custom estimates for demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics down to the Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) level.
The ACS is a continuous survey that samples households throughout the year. The 2024 1-year PUMS file is a sample of de-identified person and housing records collected over calendar year 2024, representing the resident population of the United States.
Every record carries a sampling weight (PWGTP for persons, WGTP for housing units) that expands the sample to population and housing-unit totals. All statistics on this page are weighted estimates; any unweighted record counts are shown only to convey sample size.
Margins of error are computed from the 80 replicate weights supplied with the PUMS file using the Census Bureau’s successive-difference replication method, and are reported at the 90% confidence level unless stated otherwise.
Sub-state estimates use Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs), statistical areas of at least 100,000 residents. The 2020-vintage PUMA boundaries apply to 2022 and later ACS data.
- PUMS is a sample of roughly one percent of the population, so every estimate carries sampling error; small subgroups and small geographies have wider margins of error.
- Figures are survey estimates, not a complete count, and can differ from administrative records or the full ACS tabulations.
- Dollar amounts reflect the survey year and are not adjusted for inflation across vintages unless explicitly noted.
- PUMA boundaries are redrawn after each decennial census, which breaks strict geographic comparability across the boundary change.
How these figures were produced
- Estimate type:
- Weighted survey estimate (housing-unit level)
- Weighting:
- WGTP (housing-unit weight)
- Confidence level:
- 90%
- Error estimation:
- Successive-difference replication over 80 replicate weights
Suggested citation
U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 1-Year American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS). Analysis by Matt George, itsmattgeorge.com. Retrieved 2026-10-15.