Does a $1 Million Price Mean the Same Thing in Every Denver-Area County?

How can I use these findings?

Buyers can use this comparison to ask what $1 million buys in their preferred location: usable space, construction quality, condition, setting and daily convenience. Sellers can ask which homes are direct substitutes and which verifiable features support their positioning. The national threshold has become more common, so the price alone supplies less information than a comparison with the actual homes a buyer could choose. A county median is a starting benchmark, not a property appraisal or a local luxury boundary.

How much did each threshold’s share expand?

Our original calculation compares shares rather than claiming transaction counts grew by the same multiple. Each threshold is cumulative: $5-million sales also belong in the $1-million-and-above group. Adding the five categories would double-count sales.

The $1-million threshold gained 6.47 percentage points; $2-million-and-above gained 1.60 points. The larger relative multiples at the highest thresholds begin from very small 2015 bases and should not be read as equally large absolute market segments.

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Sources: NAR: Dr. Jessica Lautz, Leaders in Luxury presentation, October 12, 2026; underlying research resources

Where does a $1-million price sit in the seven counties?

Our September single-family county medians were all below $1 million, but the distance varies. The threshold is approximately 19.2% above Boulder’s median and 100% above Adams’. This benchmark is not a measured local luxury-sales share.

A price alone does not establish luxury. Location, architecture, condition, privacy, amenities and the relevant competing inventory still shape positioning.

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Sources: REcolorado / InfoSparks: September 2026 monthly county single-family-residence snapshot; extracted October 12, 2026

What remains unmeasured?

The national share increase is nominal. We do not isolate inflation, changing inventory composition or households trading into higher price points. We also do not infer seven-county $1-million sales volume from national percentages.