(MONEY Magazine) – When looking for a home, a million dollars can go a long way--depending on where you're looking. These days, in pricey locales like New York City and Silicon Valley, you can't get much bang for your bucks. A two-bedroom apartment with just 1,300 square feet on New York's Upper West Side, for instance, recently went on sale for $995,000. To those familiar with the city's housing market, that may not seem shocking. Most Americans, though, have a word for it: They'd call it a rip-off.

And they might be right. Go to Virginia or Wyoming, and a cool million will buy plenty of space. In Custer, S.D., it can get you a five-bedroom house with a barn on 140 acres. And the 5,500-square-foot house in Boulder pictured above? It has three bedrooms, a balcony and half an acre in one of the most picturesque small cities in America. Coldwell Banker's asking price: $925,000. For San Franciscans, say, that's a steal--if only they could telecommute.

--N.P.