There's no state, of course, where the average mortgage balance is anywhere near $1 million. The closest is California, with a June 2024 average mortgage balance of $443,000. California also leads the pack in terms of the percentage of mortgages that have a balance of $1 million or more, with 7.4% of the state's mortgages averaging $1 million-plus.

Notably, Washington, D.C., has an average balance of $506,600. In fact, more than 1 in 10 mortgages reach the million-dollar mark in the nation's capital.

Nonetheless, while million-dollar mortgages aren't the norm anywhere, they're not exactly unusual anymore either, not only in picturesque seaside towns and cities, but also throughout the country.

Although credit scores are always a consideration when applying for a mortgage, it's perhaps even more so for a portion of the new $1 million mortgages being made in 2024.

Depending on their location, these properties may require non-conforming mortgages, typically in the form of a jumbo loan, as the limit on the size of conforming mortgages is still somewhat less than $1 million: $766,550 in 2024, up from $726,000 in 2023. (However, among some chronically expensive parts of the nation, including counties in California and New York where many of these million-dollar mortgage cities appear, the conforming-mortgage limit can be as high as $1.15 million.)

When mortgages of this size necessitate non-conforming loans, lenders pay extra scrutiny by requiring higher credit scores, lower debt-to-income ratios and higher down payment amounts. That's because the bank may have to keep the loans on their balance sheet, which increases their risk should the loan fail. While mortgages small enough to be sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are guaranteed, jumbo loans are not.

Currently, average jumbo loan APRs are roughly a quarter-percentage point higher than conforming mortgages' rates. Improving credit might be key for some buyers hoping to land a whale of a mortgage at an interest rate that won't sink them.

Methodology: The analysis results provided are based on an Experian-created statistically relevant aggregate sampling of our consumer credit database that may include use of the FICO® Score 8 version. Different sampling parameters may generate different findings compared with other similar analyses. Analyzed credit data did not contain personal identification information. Metro areas group counties and cities into specific geographic areas for population censuses and compilations of related statistical data.