What Does $1 Million Buy in Silicon Valley? Square Feet by City, 2012 vs Now

What does $1 million buy in Silicon Valley? We answered it with price per square foot. Using every closed MLS sale in the 31 cities we cover in Santa Clara County and bay-side San Mateo County, here is how much floor area $1M, and bigger budgets, buy at each city’s median price per square foot, against 2012.

1. $1 million, then and now

At Silicon Valley’s median of $382 per square foot in 2012, $1 million bought about 2,620 square feet. At the last 12 months’ median of $992 (October 2025 – September 2026, 15,237 sales), it buys about 1,010: 61% less floor for the same money.

• $1.5 million now: about 1,510 square feet.
• $2 million now: about 2,020 square feet, still less than $1M bought in 2012.

2. Year by year

Square feet per $1 million across Silicon Valley: about 2,620 in 2012, 1,690 in 2015, 1,230 in 2018, 1,130 in 2021, 1,060 in 2022 and 1,000 in 2025. The only years the number grew were 2019 and 2023, when prices per square foot dipped.

3. Where $1 million goes furthest

Among the 25 cities with at least 100 sales in the last 12 months:

• Most space: Gilroy (about 1,910 square feet), Morgan Hill (about 1,570) and Daly City (about 1,290).
• Least space: Palo Alto (about 510), Los Altos (about 530) and Hillsborough (about 620). Atherton, with fewer sales, was lower still.
• Then and now: San Jose about 3,220 square feet in 2012 and 1,150 now; Sunnyvale 2,200 and 810; Palo Alto 1,130 and 510.

The What $1 Million Buys page draws every city to scale at $1M, $1.5M, $2M, $3M and $5M, with a CSV of every year.

What the numbers can and can’t tell you

• It’s floor area at the median, not the size of a typical $1M home. Condos and smaller homes usually cost more per square foot, and land, location and condition change the price of any one home.
• Nominal dollars. A 2012 dollar went further for many reasons besides home prices.
• Small towns swing. Medians from fewer than 100 sales a year move a lot; the sales count is shown next to every city.

How we counted

• Source: closed sales reported to the MLS, read through the IDX feeds that power our home search, with repeat records removed. Homes sold without an MLS listing aren’t included.
• The math: square feet = budget ÷ the median price per square foot of the period’s closed sales, rounded to the nearest 10 square feet.

What would your budget buy, block by block?

A Property Nerd will pull the recent sales at your budget in the neighborhoods you like, with the square footage, lot and condition behind each price. Call (408) 373-1660 or (650) 383-8606, or book a strategy call. Commissions are negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what’s included.