A recently-published study by economists at the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan shows that 48 percent–almost half–of the total value of America’s urban land can be found within the borders of five of what Citylab's Richard Florida calls "superstar metro areas:" New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. According to the study, the value of America's urban land is a total of $25 trillion as of 2010—more than double the nation’s 2006 GDP. That's an average of $511,000 per acre or $100,000 for the typical residential lot of a fifth of an acre. But in NYC, which makes up a whopping 10 percent of this total, an acre of land is worth more than $5 million.
The gap widens