With the collapse of the housing bubble, homes now are often about the same price, with median homes in 2009 selling for $89,400.

The median home in New Glarus cost $189,900.

The qualifying income is that needed to buy the median home, assuming an 80 percent mortgage at prevailing rates.

According to Forbes magazine, the 2010 median home sale price was $1,674,964, counting Rowayton among the most expensive communities in Connecticut as well as the nation.

The estimated median home & condo value has risen to $321,100 (+61.7%).

The median home - typically a three-bedroom ranch - sold for just $128,000 late last year.

In 2008, the median home was worth $586,200.

The estimated median home (or condominium) value was to $374,178 (+92.6% from 2000).

Figure it like this: the median home, as computed by the Bureau of the Census in 2003, is valued at $140,000.

Only in the South are prices still rising: the median home there sold for 3.2 percent more last month than a year earlier.