What $1M, $2M, and $3M Actually Buy in New York City

Editor's note: closed-price figures cover the twelve months through June 2026 and inventory counts are active listings as of June 2026, per StreetEasy market data. This guide is refreshed annually.

The three numbers in this guide are not round-number conveniences. $1 million, $2 million, and $3 million are the exact points where New York State's mansion tax steps up, from 1.00% to 1.25% to 1.50% under Tax Law Section 1402-a. A buyer closing at $2,000,000 writes a $25,000 tax check. A buyer closing at $1,999,999 writes one for $19,999.99. One dollar of price, five thousand dollars of tax.

Those thresholds shape what actually sits on the market. Sellers price to them, buyers budget to them, and the inventory clustered underneath each one is where most of the negotiating happens. This guide takes each threshold and shows what it reaches across four boroughs: property type, size band, building era, and how deep the listing pool runs.

I cover all five boroughs and Hudson Valley, and my sales practice runs across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, including resales, new construction, and buy-side work. The pattern I see most is a buyer who fixes the budget before deciding what property type they need. That order is backwards. At all three of these numbers, the borough decides whether your money buys an apartment, a floor, or an entire building.

Where these numbers come from

Each price below is the volume-weighted typical closed sale price over the twelve months through June 2026, calculated separately for co-ops, condos, and one-to-three family houses. The closing count behind every figure is printed alongside it, because a neighborhood median built on three sales is not a median, it is an anecdote. Any property type with too few recorded sales to be meaningful is left out rather than dressed up.

Two cautions. A neighborhood figure blends a studio and a four-bedroom, so read it as a center of gravity, not a price tag. And price says nothing about depth: 17 active condos and 559 active condos are different markets at identical prices, so the active listing count appears for each property type too.

At $1M, the borough decides the property type

This is the widest tier in the city. The same million dollars buys shares in a prewar co-op corporation in one borough and gets within reach of a whole house in another.

Washington Heights, Manhattan. Co-ops closed at a typical $445,197 across 189 sales, condos at $568,341 across 34. Active inventory ran 171 co-ops against 38 condos, so this is a co-op market by a wide margin. At $1M you are buying at roughly twice the typical co-op price, which reaches the largest three and four bedroom layouts in the 1920s and 1930s elevator buildings, many with original moldings and separate service entries. The A and C stop at 181st Street and the 1 at 191st, with Fort Tryon Park and Highbridge Park at either edge.

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Co-ops closed at a typical $358,144 across 188 sales, condos at $709,731 across 15, and houses at $1,431,116 across 180. Active inventory ran 104 co-ops, 83 houses, and 17 condos. At $1M you clear the co-op and condo stock comfortably but sit at about 70% of the typical house, so a house here means the smaller attached row houses or a two-family in original condition. The R runs under Fourth Avenue to 86th Street, and Shore Road Park and Owl's Head Park line the harbor.

Jackson Heights, Queens. Co-ops closed at a typical $352,175 across 321 sales, condos at $537,649 across 23, and houses at $1,076,455 across 123. Active inventory ran 189 co-ops, 25 houses, and 8 condos. This is the one neighborhood at this tier where $1M lands almost exactly on the typical house price, putting a one-to-two family genuinely in reach. The alternative is the largest layouts in the garden-apartment complexes built between 1910 and 1935 inside the historic district, buildings arranged around private interior gardens. The 7, E, F, M, and R all meet at Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street.

Riverdale, Bronx. Co-ops closed at a typical $298,083 across 337 sales, condos at $724,642 across 21, and houses at $1,224,410 across 70. Active inventory ran 280 co-ops, 40 houses, and 35 condos. At $1M you are above the condo figure and at about 82% of the typical house, so the realistic targets are a large condo, the top co-op lines in the mid-century elevator buildings, or a smaller detached house. The 1 runs to 231st Street and Metro-North's Hudson line stops at Riverdale, with Van Cortlandt Park adjacent.

At $2M, the trade is square footage against address

Two million clears the typical condo price in most of the city and falls just short of it in a few places. That gap is the entire decision at this tier.

Upper East Side, Manhattan. Condos closed at a typical $1,858,557 across 742 sales and co-ops at $1,069,579 across 1,848. Active inventory ran 1,080 co-ops and 559 condos, the deepest apartment market in the five boroughs. At $2M you are marginally above the condo figure, or at nearly twice the co-op figure, which is where the money goes further: a large prewar co-op, typically three bedrooms with a formal dining room, in the 1920s and 1930s buildings off Park and Fifth. The 4, 5, and 6 run under Lexington and the Q under Second, with Central Park and Carl Schurz Park at the edges.

Park Slope, Brooklyn. Condos closed at a typical $1,704,525 across 200 sales, co-ops at $999,134 across 179, and houses at $3,493,967 across 150. Active inventory ran 94 condos, 55 houses, and 46 co-ops. At $2M you are above the typical condo and at about 57% of the typical house, so row houses are out of range and the realistic buy is a well-located condo or a large prewar co-op. The F, G, and R serve the west side and the 2 and 3 the north, with Prospect Park along the eastern boundary.

Long Island City, Queens. Condos closed at a typical $1,047,253 across 243 sales. Active inventory ran 283 condos, one of the largest condo pools in the city. At $2M you are at nearly double the typical condo price, which reaches large high-floor units in the post-2005 towers, commonly two bedrooms with two baths and a terrace. The 7, E, M, and G all serve the area, plus the East River Ferry, with Gantry Plaza State Park on the waterfront.

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn. Condos closed at a typical $2,223,332 across 44 sales, co-ops at $770,572 across 161, and houses at $6,040,143 across 28. Active inventory ran 63 co-ops, 43 condos, and 17 houses. At $2M you fall just under the typical condo, so the condo buy is a smaller or lower-floor unit, while the same money is roughly 2.6 times the typical co-op and buys generously in the prewar co-op stock. The 19th-century row houses on the Promenade blocks sit far above this tier. The 2, 3, 4, 5, R, A, and C all stop within the neighborhood, with Brooklyn Bridge Park below the bluff.

At $3M, the question is whole house or large apartment

Three million is where the house market and the apartment market cross. In two of the four neighborhoods below it buys a building. In the other two it buys an apartment, and not always a large one.

Tribeca, Manhattan. Condos closed at a typical $3,721,105 across 256 sales and co-ops at $2,733,800 across 50. Active inventory ran 169 condos and 28 co-ops. At $3M you are at roughly 81% of the typical condo, so this budget buys below the middle of that market: a two-bedroom loft-style unit, often in a cast-iron or warehouse conversion with high ceilings and oversized windows, or a co-op priced above its own typical. The 1, A, C, and E serve Chambers Street, with Hudson River Park and Washington Market Park nearby.

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. Houses closed at a typical $3,413,559 across 52 sales, condos at $1,993,565 across 56, and co-ops at $1,214,084 across 14. Active inventory ran 25 houses, 17 condos, and 6 co-ops, a thin pool at every property type. At $3M you sit at about 88% of the typical house, which reaches a narrower or unrenovated 19th-century brick row house, many with the deep front gardens the neighborhood was laid out around in the 1850s. The F and G stop at Carroll Street, with Carroll Park in the center.

Forest Hills, Queens. Houses closed at a typical $1,370,028 across 149 sales, condos at $750,930 across 77, and co-ops at $350,297 across 515. Active inventory ran 281 co-ops, 65 condos, and 46 houses. At $3M you are at roughly 2.2 times the typical house, which buys near the top of that stock: the largest Tudor and colonial houses in the section planned in 1909, detached homes set on landscaped private streets. The E, F, M, and R stop at Forest Hills-71st Avenue alongside the Long Island Rail Road, with Forest Park to the south.

Upper West Side, Manhattan. Condos closed at a typical $1,714,275 across 955 sales and co-ops at $966,333 across 1,272. Active inventory ran 601 condos and 556 co-ops. At $3M you are at about 1.75 times the typical condo and three times the typical co-op, which buys a large condo or a four-bedroom prewar co-op with intact original detail in the 1910s and 1920s buildings on West End Avenue and Riverside Drive. The 1, 2, and 3 run under Broadway and the B and C under Central Park West, with Central Park and Riverside Park on both flanks.

Matching the tier to the property need

The useful question is not which neighborhood is better. It is which one holds the property type you need at the number you have.

Listing depth matters as much as price. Carroll Gardens had 25 houses and 6 co-ops active in June 2026; the Upper East Side had 1,080 co-ops. At the same budget, one of those gives you a choice and the other gives you a waiting game. If you are weighing two boroughs against each other, the Brooklyn and Queens comparison for first-time buyers goes deeper on that tradeoff, and the 2026 neighborhood buying guide covers a wider set of areas.

One more figure to settle before you fix a budget: the mansion tax is a single line on the closing statement. What you need liquid at closing, counting the down payment, attorney fees, title, and mortgage recording tax, is laid out in how much cash it takes to buy in NYC. And if the prewar co-op stock at the $1M and $2M tiers is where you are headed, buying a prewar apartment covers what those buildings ask of a buyer.