What $2 million buys across LA neighborhoods

Two million dollars is a big number almost anywhere. In Los Angeles, it's a number that changes shape depending on which side of a hill you're standing on. In some zip codes it's comfortably above the typical house price. In others, it covers a small house on a small lot, or a nice condo.

Here's a simple way to compare. Take $2 million and divide it by the median price per square foot for single-family homes in each zip. It's a yardstick, not a shopping list, but it shows the spread clearly.

The numbers

All figures below are from the Redfin Data Center, zip-level medians, March to May 2026, for single-family homes. Zip codes don't match neighborhood borders, so read each one as a rough picture of the area, not the neighborhood itself.

• Studio City (91604): median house price $2.15 million, about $908 per square foot. $2 million covers roughly 2,200 square feet.
• Eagle Rock (90041): median $1.45 million, about $932 per square foot. $2 million covers roughly 2,150 square feet, and sits well above the median.
• Los Feliz (90027): median $2.38 million, about $947 per square foot. Roughly 2,110 square feet. The zip also covers parts of East Hollywood and the Griffith Park area.
• Hancock Park (90004): median $1.91 million, about $992 per square foot. Roughly 2,020 square feet. This zip includes a lot of smaller homes outside Hancock Park, so houses inside it typically run well above these figures.
• Silver Lake (90026): median $1.53 million, about $1,010 per square foot. Roughly 1,980 square feet. The zip also covers Echo Park.
• Mar Vista (90066): median $1.9 million, about $1,158 per square foot. Roughly 1,730 square feet.
• Venice (90291): median $2.12 million, about $1,348 per square foot. Roughly 1,480 square feet.
• Beverly Hills (90210): about $1,448 per square foot, so roughly 1,380 square feet. With a median house price of $8.12 million, $2 million here mostly means a condo.
• Santa Monica north of Montana (90402): about $1,947 per square foot. Roughly 1,030 square feet, against a median house price of $4.8 million.

What the spread tells you

The pattern is familiar to anyone who has looked at LA for a while: the closer to the ocean, the more each square foot costs. The Eastside and the Valley give you more house for the money, and in the coastal zips $2 million starts to compete with much bigger budgets.

A few things the averages hide:

• Land is most of the price. In Venice or Santa Monica, a small older house can sell for close to what a much larger new one does a few miles inland, because buyers are paying for the lot and the location. Price per square foot is a blunt tool in places like that.
• Some zips sell over asking. In this period, houses in 90041 (Eagle Rock) sold for about 108.5% of list price at the median, and 90026 (Silver Lake and Echo Park) about 107%. In 90004 and 91604, houses typically sold a bit under list. A $2 million budget can mean searching at $1.8 million in some places and above $2 million in others.
• Small samples move a lot. Some of these zips had a few dozen house sales in three months. One unusual sale can shift a median noticeably.

What $2 million tends to look like

Very roughly, here's what that budget has been finding in spring 2026:

• On the Eastside, in Eagle Rock, Silver Lake and Los Feliz: a 1920s Spanish or Craftsman house, or a mid-century home on a hillside lot, often with room left in the budget in Eagle Rock and less so in Los Feliz.
• In the Valley, in Studio City: a ranch or traditional house on a flat street, or a hillside home with a view, sometimes with a pool.
• On the Westside, in Mar Vista and Venice: a postwar house, often remodeled, on a standard city lot. In Venice, that might be a smaller bungalow or a newer home on a narrow lot.
• In Santa Monica north of Montana and Beverly Hills: mostly condos and townhomes at this price. Houses there generally start well above it.

Before you set a budget

Price is only part of the monthly picture. Property taxes in California are based mostly on your purchase price, so they reset when you buy. Insurance costs vary a lot by location, especially in fire zones. And some cities in LA County add their own transfer taxes or rules. Our guide to buying in LA from out of town covers the basics.

If you'd like to see what $2 million looks like in a specific area right now, with actual recent sales instead of medians, that's an easy conversation to start.

General information, not advice. Price figures are estimates from public data and may be out of date.