Clark Howard

Report: How Much Downsizing Can Save You in 20 Cities

By Craig Johnson
By Craig Johnson

Downsizing has many advantages, and saving money is at the top of the list. You’ll likely cut your expenses if you move to a smaller home in most places. But a recent report shows that downsizing from a four-bedroom home to a two-bedroom saves you a lot more money in some cities than in others.

How much can you save? This article details the findings of a new report from StorageCafe.com, an online storage broker.

How Much Could You Save if You Downsized Your Home?

Here are some key findings from the report:

  • The St. Louis metro area has the largest gap in value between a four-bedroom and two-bedroom home: 141%.
  • Phoenix, Arizona, has the smallest difference between the two at 43%.
  • In America's top 20 metropolitan areas, you can save an average of about $194,000 by downsizing from four bedrooms to two.

To come up with its analysis, StorageCafe compared values of four- and two-bedroom homes in the top 20 metro areas. Then it incorporated the difference in property taxes over a decade and closing costs for buying and selling each home.

Home values in the report were sourced from Zillow's Home Value Index, using data from June 2021.

Let's look at the top metropolitan areas for downsizing savings, according to StorageCafe. Keep in mind that the data look at home values, which are expected to rise, according to Zillow.

What You’ll Save by Downsizing in America’s Top 20 Metro Areas

Metro AreaDownsizing Savings4-Bedroom Home Value2-Bedroom Home Value
San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA$406,600$1,571,000$1,036,100
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA$264,700$912,100$576,900
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$239,800$957,600$640,600
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA$234,500$807,000$511,700
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL$233,700$506,800$247,200
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$232,900$734,300$455,600
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA$215,400$614,900$376,800
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI$209,800$372,600$158,200
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV$209,600$624,100$374,400
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD$194,000$444,600$239,400
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX$189,300$398,600$200,900
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA$189,100$562,600$334,200
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI$158,900$366,000 $204,700
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO$158,500 $629,600$416,700
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL$145,600$380,600$210,000
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX$133,000$305,600$167,200
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI$121,600$406,500$258,000
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA$107,800$350,600$218,000
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ$93,200$440,300 $308,200
Read the complete report from StorageCafe.com.

Money expert Clark Howard is no stranger to downsizing. "We're moving to a place that is less than a fourth of the size of where we're moving from. That's true downsizing," he recently said on his podcast.

His advice is this: As difficult as it may be, try not to hold onto items that you know you’re never going to use.

Clark says he’s had to purge items that he or his children don’t want. “Tell your kids, when it comes time for you to downsize, ‘Tell me the truth. Do you want this? Do you not want it? If you don’t want it, tell me that.’ Then go through the selection process of getting rid of things,” he says.

More Home Resources From Clark.com:

This article was originally published on Clark.com

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