How do Philly housing prices compare to other US cities?

In recent years—even weeks, really—there’s been a lot of talk about how Philly is a pretty affordable city compared to other major U.S. cities. Still, Philadelphia’s housing market has been breaking records left and right, and there’s very little housing inventory to go around, which means it is slowly but surely becoming less affordable to own a home or rent here.

But while Philadelphians may be feeling the pinch, other city folks around the nation are also in the same boat. So to put it all into perspective, real estate analytics firm NeighborhoodX decided to compare price ranges of properties in Philly and other cities that the company covers.

Constantine Valhouli, Director of Research for NeighborhoodX, put it this way: “Everyone within a particular city feels that their city is expensive, and that certain neighborhoods are out of reach, but how do the average prices and the most expensive properties in those cities compare, nationally?”

Here’s what the analysis found:

Philly and Austin are on par

In fact, their price ranges are “almost identical” says Valhouli. Philadelphia’s average price per square foot is $301, while Austin’s is $345 per square foot.

But it’s worth pointing out that Austin is much less dense than Philly, whose population density of over 11,000 people per square mile is roughly four times that of Austin. "This suggests that, if current trends continue, both Philadelphia and Austin's prices will likely continue to rise, although Austin's prices perhaps have even more considerable upside as the city's density increases," said Valhouli.

Overall, Philly is pretty affordable

Philly is the second most affordable city on this list, after New Orleans. The priciest cities? No surprise here: Manhattan, San Francisco, and Boston, respectively.

For the full analysis, use the interactive chart below to compare all seven cities.