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Texas Ranks Near Bottom in Average Home Lot Size

Texas Ranks Near Bottom in Average Home Lot Size
Lot identification for real estate | Image by Shutterstock

The size of a home lot in DFW is far below the national average, putting a damper on the stereotype that ‘everything is bigger in Texas.’

Texas ranked close to the bottom, 46th out of 50, for having one of the smallest lot sizes per square foot in the country, according to a new study conducted by Angi, an online home services company. Using data from Zillow, the company estimated the average lot size in each state and major metro area based on more than 390,000 single-family home listings.

Texas and its four major metro areas had a typical lot size of only 9,540 square feet.

For comparison, Vermont ranked first and has the nation’s largest lot size with 78,409 square feet, while Nevada ranked last and had the smallest lots, averaging only 7,405 square feet.

New Hampshire has the second largest lot size, with 49,223 square feet, more than five times larger than the average lot size in Texas.

When looking at major metropolitan areas, many notable Texas locations found themselves lower on the list than one might have expected.

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranked 76th nationally, with a typical lot size of 8,712 square feet. The Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown area faired slightly better at 73rd with 8,930 square feet.

The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area fell to 92nd with a standard lot size of 8,174 square feet. Out of Texas’ major metros, San Antonio-New Braunfels had the smallest lot size of just 7,405 square feet, forcing them down to 97th nationwide.

The study notes that standard lot sizes tend to be smaller in densely populated areas. Home prices in parts of California can cost home buyers more than $800,000 for an average lot size of only 6,000 square feet.

For example, San Francisco has the second smallest lot size in the nation and one of the highest average home prices. According to Zillow, the typical seasonally adjusted value of homes in San Francisco was $1,576,808 in July, up 6.6% over the past year.

“In many of the country’s large, fast-growing cities, developers have had to build smaller and smaller lots to accommodate the influx of new residents,” the study highlighted. “Large lot sizes can price people out of the housing market and create affordability issues for potential homebuyers, even in areas with relatively cheap land.”

Nationwide, typical lot prices range from $253.13 per square foot in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area of California to $10.60 per square foot in Flint, Michigan. Average lot prices in Texas metros vary, running from the high $40s to the high $60s per square foot.

The typical lot costs in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington were $53.41 per square foot. In the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, lot prices were $50.05 per square foot. In San Antonio-New Braunfels, lot costs were $48.18 on average. The Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown area has the state’s most expensive lots at $69.84 per square foot.

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