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Data sources: homes as of Sep 30, 2026, wages from May 2025 Price: Zillow ZHVI metro single-family mid tier, 2026-09-30 House rent: Zillow ZORI metro single-family, 2026-09-30 Apartment rent: Zillow ZORI metro all rentals, 2026-09-30 Property tax: Census ACS 2025 1-year B25103_001E / B25077_001E, with ACS 2024 5-year fallback Property tax for new buyers in CA: California State Board of Equalization, 2024-25 Annual Report (Publication 306), 'Average Property Tax Rate' and Open Data Portal dataset 'Summaries of Assessed Values, by Property Class (Table 4)', assessment year 2024-25: statewide average tax rate 1.152% (the dataset's StateAverageTaxRates field; the same row lists levies of $100,025,871,000 and net assessed value of $8,714,125,178,000). https://boe.ca.gov/legdiv/2024-2025/pub306.pdf and https://www.boe.ca.gov/dataportal/api/odata/Summaries_of_Assessed_Values_by_Property_Class . Homeowners' exemption: BOE, 'Homeowners' Exemption' page, 'The California Constitution provides a $7,000 reduction in the taxable value for a qualifying owner-occupied home.' https://www.boe.ca.gov/proptaxes/homeowners_exemption.htm Property tax for new buyers in FL: Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight, 'Statewide Property Tax Overview (2025)' in 2025 County Profiles. DOR publishes no statewide millage figure, so each average is taxes levied divided by taxable value: school $22,826,973,523 / school taxable value $3,825,912,545,955 = 5.966 mills; non-school (county $20,682,076,778 + municipal $9,423,883,364 + other $6,236,357,520 = $36,342,317,662) / county taxable value $3,478,113,402,548 = 10.449 mills. https://floridarevenue.com/property/Documents/2025_County_Profiles.pdf . Homestead exemption: first $25,000 on all levies and a second $25,000 on non-school levies only, DOR 'Recapitulation of the Ad Valorem Assessment Roll' (DR-489V) lines 26 and 27 (s. 196.031(1)(a) and (b), F.S.). https://floridarevenue.com/property/Documents/statewide_recap.xlsx Property tax for new buyers in MI: Michigan Department of Treasury, '2025 Ad Valorem Property Tax Report, All Classes of Property, Real and Personal' (State Tax Commission levy report), statewide summary table, tax year 2025: average homestead rate 35.10 mills (all property 42.19, non-homestead 54.01). https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/-/media/Project/Websites/taxes/Tax-Levy-Reports/2025-Ad-Valorem-Tax-Levy-Report.pdf BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, oesm25ma/MSA_M2025_dl.xlsx Insurify, "Average Home Insurance Rates by State (2026)", https://insurify.com/homeowners-insurance/states/. Average annual cost with $300,000 dwelling coverage (also $1,000 deductible, $25,000 personal property, $300,000 liability, good credit, no prior claims, 1980 build), mean of quotes from 180+ insurers via Insurify partners and Quadrant Information Services. Page updated October 21, 2026. Wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, May 2025 Mortgage rate: Freddie Mac PMMS 30-year fixed, week of 2026-10-22: 7.32% How the numbers work