Why I Will Never Own a Home in Boulder, CO

Boulder home prices rank high

BOULDER - If you're looking for an average single-family home in Colorado's main housing markets, Boulder is the most expensive in the state, and Colorado Springs is the most affordable.

So says an annual Coldwell Banker survey, which compared prices of the average 2,200-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath, two-car garage home in 315 U.S. housing markets. In Boulder, such a home would run about $645,000, the survey said. In Colorado Springs, the same home would cost about $198,500.

The price difference of $446,600 of two similar homes in the same state ranked Colorado with the 10th-largest gap in the U.S. from most expensive to most affordable. California had the largest price gap - of about $1.5 million - between the most and least expensive housing markets in one state.

La Jolla, Calif. ranked as the most expensive market in the entire U.S., where the average home costs $1,841,667. Sioux City, Iowa came in as the most affordable market in the U.S. with an average home price of $133,459.

Dubai was the most expensive market studied outside of North America, where the average comparable home cost $2.45 million.