Professional athlete salaries are lucrative, so much so that the top-paid NFL players can earn the equivalent of the cost of 100 median-priced homes. So if you’re preparing to watch the Super Bowl this weekend and wondering how the stars on the field compare to the fans in the stands, the answer is in their purchasing power.
Zoocasa analyzed the three-year average (APY) of the highest-paid NFL players to calculate how many median-priced homes each could afford in their respective cities if they spent their entire salaries.
The Highest-Paid NFL Players Could Buy Nearly 200 Homes
Topping our list is Joe Burrow, the 29-year-old quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, who can purchase 188 homes with his $61.3M salary. It’s not just Burrow’s high salary that gives him such significant buying power; it’s also the city he plays in. Cincinnati is one of the more affordable cities in the country. The median price for a single-family home is just $325,300.
Interestingly, Burrow is not the highest-paid NFL player on our list. That feat belongs to Dak Prescott, who has a three-year APY of $61.6M and can afford to buy 164 homes. So why can’t Prescott buy as many homes as Burrow? The answer lies in the location. Prescott, who plays for the Dallas Cowboys, lives in a higher-cost-of-living city than Burrow does. A median-priced home in Dallas will cost nearly $50,000 more than one in Cincinnati. And while that’s small change for a millionaire athlete, the message for regular homebuyers is clear: location can cost you.
Another example is Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills quarterback, who earns an average annual salary of $55.3 million over three years. Four other NFL players on our list have a higher three-year APY than Allen, but they can afford to purchase fewer homes. Once again, the answer lies in the location. Buffalo’s low median home price of $299,600 means Allen’s purchasing power is stretched further than someone living in a more expensive city with a higher salary.
The same logic applies to working-class homebuyers: if you want your budget to truly stretch, pivoting toward a more affordable city is the ultimate power move. Fortunately for football fans, many of the most iconic NFL markets also happen to boast some of the most accessible home prices in the country. Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers fans in particular will be happy to know that median home prices in these cities are around $250,000—a remarkable $175,000 less than the national median price of $426,800.
Even “Low” Earners Can Live Large
Fred Warner, the off-ball linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, earns a $21M salary. To put that in perspective, he earns 250 times more than the median household income, which brings in $83,730. While a typical family might spend thirty years paying off a single mortgage, Warner effectively earns the value of a median U.S. home every 36 hours.
However, even with this immense wealth, the San Francisco market limits his purchasing power. A median single-family home in the city costs upwards of $1.3M, meaning Warner’s entire salary is equivalent to only 16 homes.
If Warner were traded to a team like the Green Bay Packers, his purchasing power would skyrocket. Because the median home price in Green Bay is nearly $1M lower than in San Francisco, that same $21M salary would suddenly stretch to afford him 60 homes instead of just 16. This is the exact reality for Green Bay guard Aaron Banks; although he earns a similar elite salary to Warner, his location allows him to afford roughly 44 more homes simply by playing in a different market.
Rookies Can’t Even Buy One Home in Some Cities
Not every football player wins a multimillion-dollar contract, though. First-year players rarely make anywhere close to what the pros make. For example, the rookie minimum base salary for 2025 was $840,000. While many rookies will be excited to be drafted, they won’t instantly receive massive financial perks.
An $840,000 salary is huge by normal standards, but it doesn’t even cover the cost of one home in Los Angeles or San Francisco. In these markets, the high cost of entry might force rookies to rent, while their counterparts in the Rust Belt can buy two or three homes.
Rookies in Cleveland and Pittsburgh enjoy the league’s highest purchasing power, with enough room in their budget to secure three median-priced homes in their first year alone.
In 11 NFL cities, a rookie’s salary barely covers the cost of a single home, proving that location is just as important as the paycheck. While we often associate professional sports with a life of luxury, a near-million-dollar salary doesn’t offer the same buying power it once did. More importantly, if an elite athlete’s budget is being squeezed, it highlights the uphill battle facing working-class families who earn only a fraction of that income.
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