Guidesfrom the federal index
Which Metro Areas Have Had the Highest Home Price Growth? Every Metro Ranked, by Start Date
Which metro areas' home prices rose the most depends on the start month. How the FHFA metro ranking is built, why small metros top the 2020 list, its limits.
The short answer
It depends on where you start counting. Since January 2020 (2020 Q1 to 2026 Q2), home prices on FHFA’s quarterly metro index rose the most in Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ, +99.8%, and the least in San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA, +16.3%, among 410 metro areas. Since January 2012 the leader is Boise City, ID, +284.6%, with Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA last at +37.9%. The two lists barely overlap, and that is the main thing to know before quoting any “fastest growing metro” figure.
The metros in the index
FHFA publishes its all-transactions index quarterly for 410 metropolitan statistical areas and metro divisions, most from 1975, in the quarterly master file. The boundaries are the Office of Management and Budget’s (July 2023 delineations), which is why the names string cities together. The eleven largest metros appear as their divisions rather than as a whole: Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach are three rows, not one. The home price growth by metro area tool ranks all of them from any month; the state ranking is the same method on 51 rows.
How the ranking is built
Change = (index now ÷ index then) − 1, for each metro, over the same window
Per year = (index now ÷ index then)1 ÷ years − 1
The start month is matched to the quarter that holds it and “now” is the latest quarter FHFA has published, 2026 Q2. Every metro gets the identical window and is sorted by its change. Index levels are never compared: each series is scaled to its own base period, so the printed values are for checking each ratio against FHFA’s file, not for reading down the column.
Since January 2020: 410 metros ranked
The three largest changes, the nation, and the three smallest, over 6.25 years:
| Rank | Metro area | Index 2020 Q1 | Index 2026 Q2 | Change | Per year | $100,000 then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ | 244.29 | 488.09 | +99.8% | +11.7% | $199,799 |
| 2 | Hinesville, GA | 172.10 | 333.51 | +93.8% | +11.2% | $193,788 |
| 3 | Knoxville, TN | 229.77 | 444.12 | +93.3% | +11.1% | $193,289 |
| United States | 448.64 | 719.87 | +60.5% | +7.9% | $160,456 | |
| 408 | Lake Charles, LA | 235.49 | 287.81 | +22.2% | +3.3% | $122,218 |
| 409 | Oakland-Fremont-Berkeley, CA | 375.67 | 456.00 | +21.4% | +3.1% | $121,383 |
| 410 | San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA | 435.68 | 506.53 | +16.3% | +2.4% | $116,262 |
The top of the 2020 list is small and mid-sized metros in the Northeast, the Southeast and the interior, and the bottom is the Bay Area and Louisiana. The middle metro rose +63.4%, a little above the nation’s +60.5%. Phoenix sits at +66.6%, rank 163; Austin at +44.0%, rank 365; Denver at +40.2%, rank 380.
Since January 2012: a different top
| Rank | Metro area | Index 2012 Q1 | Index 2026 Q2 | Change | Per year | $100,000 then |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boise City, ID | 133.87 | 514.91 | +284.6% | +9.9% | $384,634 |
| 2 | Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | 100.29 | 384.82 | +283.7% | +9.9% | $383,707 |
| 3 | Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL | 181.08 | 666.21 | +267.9% | +9.6% | $367,909 |
| United States | 309.55 | 719.87 | +132.6% | +6.1% | $232,554 | |
| 408 | Lafayette, LA | 192.58 | 294.21 | +52.8% | +3.0% | $152,773 |
| 409 | Shreveport-Bossier City, LA | 179.14 | 264.18 | +47.5% | +2.8% | $147,471 |
| 410 | Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA | 216.82 | 299.07 | +37.9% | +2.3% | $137,935 |
From the 2012 bottom, over 14.25 years, the leaders are the Sun Belt metros that had fallen furthest in the crash: Boise City, ID at +284.6%, +9.9% a year. Phoenix is rank 8 at +245.0%, Austin rank 79 at +162.2%, Denver rank 66 at +169.9%. The median metro rose +118.9% against +132.6% for the nation. Austin went from rank 79 of 410 on the 2012 window to rank 365 on the 2020 one; a ranking is a statement about a window, not about a place.
Why the nation sits where it does
The United States row is FHFA’s national series, weighted by where sales happen, so the big coastal metros count for more than the small ones that top the 2020 list. That is why the nation can sit below the median metro in one window and above it in another. The median is the middle row, which no weighting moves.
What a metro ranking cannot know
- Your house, or your ZIP. Each row is a metro’s average. Renovations, condition and lot are not in it, and a ZIP inside the metro can sit far from the metro figure; the ZIP pages carry the annual index for those.
- Sales the index never sees. It is built from mortgages bought or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so cash, jumbo, FHA and VA purchases are not in it (FHFA HPI FAQ).
- Price levels. A rank is a change, not a price, in the dollars of each date. The metro with the largest change can be among the cheapest.
- Where prices go next. The index is history. It is not a forecast and not an appraisal.
Sources
- FHFA House Price Index datasets, the quarterly master file for metros and the nation.
- FHFA HPI frequently asked questions, on what the index includes.
- OMB July 2023 metropolitan area delineations, the metro and division boundaries.
This guide is for informational purposes only. It is not an appraisal, and not financial, tax, lending or real-estate advice. Every estimate on this site tracks an area’s average, never a particular house. Confirm anything that matters with a licensed appraiser or your lender.
Last reviewed: September 2026 · Against the FHFA House Price Index master file (quarterly metro series through 2026 Q2).