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Our price doesn't change based on your zip code. What it represents as a share of a typical household's income does, and that gap is bigger than most buyers realize. Real 2024 Census income data, plainly explained.
Our choosing-a-puppy checklist states our price plainly: roughly $1,500 to $3,500 for a pet-quality puppy from health-tested lines, sometimes higher for rare coloring or show-quality dogs. That number is the same no matter where you live, and it should stay that way, a legitimate breeder prices a litter on health testing and lineage, not on the buyer's home state. But the same $3,500 lands very differently on a household budget in Massachusetts than it does in Mississippi, and nothing about a flat national price range shows you that. This page does, using real income data instead of a guess.
Every figure below is quoted directly from the U.S. Census Bureau's own published brief, "Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2024" (report ACSBR-025, released September 2025), which reports 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, in 2024 inflation-adjusted dollars, for every state. The national median household income in that report is $81,604. We are not averaging state numbers into a single "regional" figure, the Census Bureau doesn't publish one and inventing our own would be a guess dressed up as data. Instead, each region below is shown through its real lowest- and highest-income member states, so every number you see is one the Census Bureau actually reported.
The Census Bureau groups all 50 states and the District of Columbia into four standard regions. Here is the real income spread inside each one, and what our $1,500 and $3,500 price points work out to as a share of a full year's household income in the highest- and lowest-income state in that region.
Spans from Maine at $76,442 up to Massachusetts at $104,828. In Massachusetts, $3,500 is 3.3% of the median household's yearly income. In Maine, the same $3,500 is 4.6%.
Spans from Missouri at $71,589 up to Minnesota at $87,117. In Minnesota, $3,500 works out to 4.0% of median household income. In Missouri, it's 4.9%.
The widest range of any region: Mississippi at $59,127 up to Washington, D.C. at $109,707, the highest median household income anywhere in the country. In D.C., $3,500 is 3.2% of median income. In Mississippi, that same $3,500 is 5.9%, nearly double the share.
Spans from New Mexico at $67,816 up to Hawaii at $100,745. In Hawaii, $3,500 is 3.5% of median income. In New Mexico, it's 5.2%.
The math changes meaningfully at $1,500 too, our lower price point. Against the national median of $81,604, $1,500 is 1.8% of a full year's household income, versus 4.3% at $3,500. In Mississippi specifically, $1,500 is 2.5% of median income, close to what $3,500 represents in Massachusetts (3.3%). Same national price range, a genuinely different-feeling number depending on where you live.
The same Census brief reports that real, inflation-adjusted median household income rose 2.0 percent nationally between the 2023 and 2024 surveys, from $80,002 to $81,604. Twenty-nine states saw a statistically significant increase over that same year, and none saw a significant decrease. That single year of movement is smaller than the state-to-state gaps above, but it's a reminder that these figures are a snapshot from a specific survey year, not a permanent ranking. Check back on future Census releases if you're weighing a purchase against next year's numbers rather than this year's.
This is one honest, real data point, not a full affordability verdict. States with higher median incomes tend to also carry a higher cost of living, housing especially, so a lower percentage of income doesn't automatically mean more money is left over at the end of the month. A family in a high-income, high-cost metro area and a family in a lower-income, lower-cost rural county could both feel a $3,500 puppy about the same way in practice, even though the percentages above look very different. Use this page to understand the real gap in what a fixed national price represents across the country, not as a claim about who can or can't afford a Yorkie.
What doesn't change anywhere in the country: the health testing behind the price. See our health-testing guide for exactly what to ask a breeder for, regardless of what state you're buying in.
Not because of where the buyer lives. Our own price range, roughly $1,500 to $3,500 for a pet-quality puppy from health-tested lines, is set by the breeder and the litter, not by the buyer's zip code. What changes by state is not the sticker price, it's how big a bite that price takes out of a typical household's yearly income, and that gap is real and worth seeing plainly.
The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the same federal survey used for most state-level economic reporting. Specifically the 2024 ACS 1-year estimates, published in the Census Bureau's own brief "Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2024" (ACSBR-025, released September 2025). Every figure on this page is quoted directly from that report's state-by-state table, not estimated or rounded from a secondary source.
It means the price represents a smaller slice of a typical paycheck on paper, which is a real and useful comparison, but it isn't the whole affordability picture. States with higher median incomes, Massachusetts and California among them, also tend to have a higher cost of living, so a lower percentage doesn't automatically mean more money left over at the end of the month. Treat this as one honest data point, not a complete budget verdict.
No, and be cautious of anyone who frames it that way. A legitimate breeder prices a litter based on health testing, lineage, and demand, not on the buyer's home state. A price that swings based on where you say you live is a red flag, not a discount.
Simple division: our stated $1,500 and $3,500 price points, each divided by the exact state or national median household income figure cited from the Census Bureau's 2024 ACS table, then converted to a percentage. It's arithmetic on two real, individually sourced numbers, not a separate estimate or model.
See also: our choosing-a-puppy checklist for the full price range and red flags to watch for, and our homepage for the puppies currently available.
Every puppy featured comes from health-tested parents with paperwork to match.
About the breedRead the choosing-a-puppy checklist