When you finally make the decision to buy a house, knowing how much money you'll need to make that purchase is one of the key questions facing you.

The answer depends on where you live.

24/7 Wall St, using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey, calculated the size of a house you can buy with $200,000 in every state.

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In the Tri-State area (South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota) you can still get a decent amount of house for your money.

In the Hawkeye State, 200 grand will get you more than 1,100 square feet of living space (1,111 sq. ft.), which is the 18th best in the country.

That's the good news. The bad news? That's 10.6 percent smaller than a year ago.

You can also get more than 1,000 square feet in the Mount Rushmore State

Barely.

$200 thousand in South Dakota translates into 1,010 square feet, which is 24th in the nation but 9.6% smaller than a year ago.

The North Star State is one spot behind South Dakota but on the other side of the 1,000-square-foot mark.

The approximate size of a $200,000 house in Minnesota is 980 square feet, which is 14.2% smaller than a year ago.

Only two states (West Virginia and Mississippi) can get you a place with more than 1,500 square feet for $200,000.

MOST SQUARE FOOTAGE PER $200,000 

  • West Virginia: 1,600 sq. ft.
  • Mississippi: 1,515 sq. ft.
  • Ohio: 1,493 sq. ft.
  • Arkansas: 1,351 sq. ft.
  • Indiana: 1,351 sq. ft.
  • Louisiana: 1,316 sq. ft.
  • North Dakota: 1,316 sq. ft.
  • Kansas: 1,290 sq. ft.
  • Kentucky: 1,282 sq. ft.
  • Alabama: 1,274 sq. ft.  

At the other end of the square footage spectrum are states where $200,000 will barely get you the equivalent of the size of a cruise ship cabin or hotel room.

LEAST SQUARE FOOTAGE PER $200,000 

  • Hawaii: 300 sq. ft.
  • California: 461 sq. ft.
  • Massachusetts: 498 sq. ft.
  • New York: 524 sq. ft.
  • Rhode Island: 625 sq. ft.
  • Montana: 629 sq. ft.
  • Washington: 631 sq. ft.
  • Oregon: 662 sq. ft.
  • New Hampshire: 699 sq. ft.
  • Colorado: 699 sq. ft

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