What $700K Actually Buys in 2026: Vegas vs Phoenix vs Boise vs Austin

By the time a relocator calls me, they have usually built a budget on the wrong information. They have a number in their head from a friend who bought in 2021, a Zillow tab open in three cities, and a sense that "everything is expensive now." That last part is true. What is also true, and almost never said out loud, is that $700,000 buys radically different houses across the four cities most of my California and Pacific Northwest clients are weighing against Las Vegas in 2026.

Below is the honest comparison I walk buyers through before they book a flight. Same budget, four metros, same target: a primary-residence single-family home for a working family. I am not interpreting the data through a "Vegas wins" lens. The numbers do most of the talking. Where Vegas wins, I will say so. Where it does not, I will say that too.

Setting the Budget Honestly

The $700,000 figure is roughly where conforming and high-balance conforming loan amounts intersect for a buyer putting twenty percent down with strong credit in 2026. It is also the price point where the four metros below diverge most sharply, which makes it the cleanest comparison line. One thing to lock in before the comparison: the price of the house is only the visible cost. Property tax, insurance, HOA dues, state income tax, and the cost of running the home in summer matter as much to the monthly number as the purchase price does, and they vary more between these four cities than the sticker price does.

Las Vegas and Henderson at $700,000

In 2026, $700,000 in the Las Vegas valley buys a mature four-bedroom resale of roughly 2,400 to 3,000 square feet on a real lot, in a well-rated school zone, with a pool more often than not. Specific examples of where this number lands today: the established sections of Anthem, MacDonald Ranch, Seven Hills, and Green Valley South in Henderson; the older Summerlin villages such as The Hills, The Crossing, and parts of The Trails; Providence and Skye Canyon on the northwest side; and the newer Inspirada and Cadence master plans for either a larger resale or a newer build.

The home you get at $700,000 in Vegas is not a starter. It is the move-up home most families spend their thirties working toward in coastal California. Three-car garage, primary on main or split-bedroom layout, granite or quartz, ten-foot ceilings on the newer ones, often with the desert landscaping and pool already in.

Carrying cost matters here. Nevada has no state income tax. Clark County's effective property tax rate on a primary residence sits in the roughly 0.5 to 0.7 percent range in 2026 because of the state's three percent annual cap on assessed-value increases for primary residences. HOA dues in master-planned Henderson and Summerlin generally run $50 to $120 a month for the base community, with sub-association layers in gated pockets adding another $50 to $200 on top. Homeowners insurance is moderate by Western standards. Cooling a 2,800 square foot home through July and August is real money — typically $300 to $450 a month at peak — but the rest of the year is cheap.

Phoenix and Scottsdale at $700,000

Phoenix is the closest comparable to Vegas on the map and the most direct competitor for relocator dollars. At $700,000 in 2026, you are buying a similar physical product to Vegas in the outer-ring suburbs — Queen Creek, Buckeye, San Tan Valley, parts of Surprise and Goodyear — where you get the four-bedroom, 2,400 to 2,900 square foot newer build with a small pool or pool-ready yard.

What $700,000 does not buy in Phoenix in 2026 is a comparable home inside the established Scottsdale, Arcadia, North Central, or Paradise Valley submarkets. Those have priced into the $900,000 to $1.5 million range for the equivalent footprint, and the gap has widened, not closed, over the past two years. The buyer who wants Phoenix's premium addresses is shopping a different budget than the buyer who wants Henderson's premium addresses.

Carrying cost in Phoenix runs higher than Vegas in two specific ways. Arizona has a state income tax of 2.5 percent flat in 2026 — not punishing, but not zero. Maricopa County's effective property tax rate is roughly 0.55 to 0.65 percent, similar to Clark County on paper, but Arizona's assessment rules do not include Nevada's three percent annual cap, so the long-hold math differs as values move. HOA dues in the master-planned outer ring are similar to Vegas. Summer cooling cost is comparable. Homeowners insurance is creeping upward in the Valley of the Sun, driven by extreme-heat claims, but is still in the same general band as Vegas.

Boise and the Treasure Valley at $700,000

Boise is the surprise of the four-city comparison in 2026. The narrative most California relocators carry — that Boise is the affordable mountain alternative — was true in 2019 and is no longer true in 2026. At $700,000 in the Boise metro today, you are buying inside Eagle, Meridian, or the established Boise foothills neighborhoods, and you are getting a three-to-four-bedroom of roughly 2,200 to 2,700 square feet, almost always without a pool, on a smaller lot than the Vegas or Phoenix equivalent.

The trade in Boise is climate and landscape. You get four real seasons, you get the Boise River greenbelt, and you are forty-five minutes from Bogus Basin and an hour and a half from McCall. You also get a smaller economic base, a less developed job market in several professional sectors, and noticeably higher carrying cost than Vegas in two areas.

Idaho has a state income tax of 5.8 percent flat in 2026. Ada County's effective property tax rate sits in the roughly 0.6 to 0.8 percent range, and unlike Nevada there is no three percent annual cap on assessed value, so a long hold in a rising market will compound faster than the Nevada equivalent. HOA dues are typically lower than the Vegas master-planned average, often $0 to $60 a month, because much of the Boise area is annexed county land outside of full-service HOA structures. Homeowners insurance is moderate. Heating in winter and cooling in summer roughly cancel out against Vegas's summer-heavy curve. Net of state income tax alone, a working two-earner household will pay several thousand dollars a year more in Boise than in Vegas at the same income.

Austin and the Hill Country at $700,000

Austin is the toughest of the four to summarize because the Austin metro has corrected sharply from its 2022 peak and re-corrected again in late 2025. At $700,000 in 2026, inside the city of Austin proper, you are buying a smaller home than in any of the other three metros — typically 1,700 to 2,200 square feet on a tight lot, often a 1990s or 2000s build that has been renovated, in neighborhoods south and east of the river or in the older suburbs that have been pulled into the city's footprint. The premium Austin submarkets — Westlake, Tarrytown, Travis Heights, Barton Hills — remain well above $1 million for a family-sized home.

Step out to the Hill Country and the picture changes. In Dripping Springs, Leander, Liberty Hill, Hutto, or Pflugerville, the $700,000 budget gets you back to a 2,400 to 3,000 square foot newer build on a real lot, comparable in physical product to what the same money buys in Henderson or outer Phoenix. The trade is commute, school district selection, and the fact that you are now an hour from the parts of Austin most relocators moved for.

Carrying cost is where Austin separates itself from the other three. Texas has no state income tax, which is a real advantage that mirrors Nevada. Texas also has the highest effective property tax rate of the four metros in this comparison — roughly 1.8 to 2.4 percent of assessed value depending on the specific taxing jurisdiction in the Austin metro in 2026. That is three to four times the Clark County rate. On a $700,000 home, that is the difference between roughly $3,500 a year in Nevada property tax and roughly $14,000 to $17,000 a year in the Austin metro. The "no state income tax" advantage Texas advertises is real, and it is largely consumed by the property tax bill on a typical relocator-priced home. Insurance in central Texas has also risen sharply with severe-weather claims and is now a meaningful monthly line. Summer cooling cost is similar to Vegas.

The Math That Actually Decides It

If you line the four cities up at the same $700,000 purchase price and run the carrying cost honestly for a primary residence, the order of total monthly cost in 2026, lowest to highest, is roughly: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Boise, Austin. The gap between Vegas at the bottom and Austin at the top, on the same house at the same price, is comfortably $700 to $1,200 a month after you account for property tax, state income tax on a typical professional household income, and insurance. That is a meaningful number compounded over a five to ten year hold.

Boise has the seasons and the landscape. Austin has the music, the food, and a job market that is still attractive in tech and life sciences. Phoenix has the Scottsdale lifestyle for buyers who can stretch the budget. Vegas has the lowest carrying cost, the deepest no-state-income-tax advantage at this price point because of the property tax difference, the easiest direct flight access to most of the West Coast, and a master-planned suburban product set that, square foot for square foot at $700,000, is the most house of the four.

The relocators who land happily in Vegas are usually the ones who ran this math themselves before they flew in. The ones who don't are usually surprised — pleasantly — at the closing table.