The SF metro area has 37 cities where the typical starter home costs $1 million or more, the second most in the nation, per new Zillow data shared with Axios.

The big picture: The Bay Area is among the most expensive places in the U.S. to buy a home. Only the New York City metro area (63) has more cities where entry-level homeownership crosses the million-dollar threshold.

• California leads the nation with 105 cities, more than any other state by a wide margin.

State of play: Million-dollar starter homes remain the exception nationally, but affordability challenges continue due to years of housing shortages.

• A record 242 American cities now feature seven-figure purchases for entry level homes — up from 226 last year and 80 in February 2020, before the COVID pandemic, Zillow's report shows.

Zoom in: The AI boom is supercharging demand in the Bay Area's already expensive housing market.

• The frenzy has become so intense that one recently listed $3 million home in Duboce Triangle advertised that the seller would consider OpenAI or Anthropic stock as payment — perhaps the clearest sign yet that AI wealth is reshaping real estate prices.

By the numbers: It's no surprise the four top $1 million-plus cities in the Bay Area as of April are also among the richest ZIP codes in the U.S.

Check out these staggering Bay Area starter home prices:

• Atherton: $4,965,239
• Los Altos Hills: $4,692,338
• Hillsborough: $4,131,575
• Los Altos: $3,442,267

Zoom out: Meanwhile, the typical starter home nationwide is $198,649, making one in Atherton roughly 25 times more expensive than national counterparts.

• Zillow defines a starter home as a property in the lowest third of home values in a given market — meaning many of these seven-figure homes aren't luxury estates, but the entry point to homeownership.

💭 My thought bubble: For a large number of us, buying a home here has always been more aspirational than attainable. But a housing market where sellers accept AI company stock feels like a different universe altogether.

A new mural spanning across the six archways of a building at 64 Golden Gate Ave. adds a splash of trans pride ahead of the city's annual weeklong celebration of the Tenderloin.

• The artwork — created by seven trans, queer and nonbinary artists — marks the first exterior mural commissioned by the Tenderloin-based nonprofit that represents the world's only legally recognized transgender district.

Zoom in: Look closely and you'll spot references to the neighborhood's queer history: neon signs inspired by Aunt Charlie's, a yin-yang symbol reimagined with the colors of the transgender flag, portraits honoring trans leaders and a scene from Compton's Cafeteria Riot.

What's next: "I Love Tenderloin Week" runs Sunday through June 27. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held in late June to celebrate the mural's completion.

🎷 The Deluxe — the new name for the beloved old-school jazz venue Club Deluxe — reopens today at its original location on Haight Street after a three-year hiatus. (KQED)

🔍 Supervisors Myrna Melgar and Connie Chan are calling for a city audit of the California Academy of Sciences amid a $7.3M deficit and layoffs. (SF Chronicle)

🏆 San Francisco scored its first James Beard Award wins in four years, with honors for Michael Tusk of Quince and Kevin Diedrich of PCH. (SFGATE)

📵 SFUSD is holding off on a districtwide cellphone ban while it develops a new cell phone policy.

• Current rules requiring devices to be off and put away during instructional time and between classes remain in effect. (Chronicle)

🤯 Did you see the hellacious train lines in Santa Clara after Tuesday's late-night World Cup game? (SFGATE)

At least 33 states and D.C. will give most state government workers a paid day off tomorrow for Juneteenth this year, per the Pew Research Center.

• In California, state workers can observe Juneteenth by taking a personal holiday, but they don't get an automatic day off.
• States differ considerably on how to mark the day when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free.

Catch up quick: Juneteenth was signed into law as a federal holiday in 2021 and California made it a state holiday in 2022 — but it's still not one of 11 paid holidays that all state employees have off.

Go deeper

📚 Meet Shadow, a book-loving cat who spends her days perched among her owner's bookshelves, chasing toy balls and "talking" to the birds on the balcony.

• This aspiring escape artist is so determined to get outside that she regularly tries to tunnel under the balcony door in pursuit of her feathered friends.
• Her owner Naomi H. is a librarian, making Shadow's preferred hangout spot especially fitting.
• "I am a librarian," Naomi tells us. "She is my book cat!"

📸 Got a pet that deserves the spotlight? Hit reply and send us their name, some cute pics and what they most like and dislike. They might just become our next featured star!