Which is more unobtainable: Living in these fictional TV towns, or a $300K "starter" home?

With the recent, grim realization that The Simpsons’ comfortable, supposedly middle class suburban lifestyle is now ostensibly a pipe dream for millions of Americans, perhaps it’s time to reposition our goalposts based on different fictionalized locales. We’re still living in the the Era of Peak TV, aren’t we? There’s plenty of options to choose from right now. At least that’s how Architectural Digest is seeing things, based on a recent article estimating the living costs of some of television’s most popular towns and homes.

So, let’s see here…This Is Us looks pretty idyllic (family estrangement, mental health issues, COVID woes, and childhood traumas aside). How much would a spot like the Pearsons’ cost us these days? Per AD, “a home in series creator Dan Fogelman’s beloved Pittsburgh averages around $200,195, according to Zillow,” which we assume could be affordable to people with grown-up career jobs. Yet, given the nature of Hollywood, that’s not actually where This Is Us is filmed. The Pearsons’ real home is located in Eagle Rock, California (average price: $1.3 million). Randall’s fictional place in Alpine, New Jersey “would cost around $2.4 million,” whereas homes like the one used for exterior shots in Altadena, California, “average around $1 million.”

Oh. Okay.