Looking for somewhere cheaper to live? Check out Minot, N.D., for starters and leave California for your dreams.

There is probably nothing that drives the average homeowner crazier than thinking he could have bought his house for less. How many times do we find ourselves resenting neighbors who had the good luck to move into their home when the market was at a low -- or kicking ourselves for not having bought sooner? Even if the guy down the block moved in after you and paid even more than you did, that doesn't help as much as it should.

The pain is mitigated somewhat if a same-size house that sold for less is in a different city or another state. A homeowner in Katonah, N.Y., for example, who paid around $1 million for his home, understands that his abode will cost more than a similar house in Binghamton, N.Y., which might fetch $171,000. After all, Katonah is in tony Westchester County, one of the wealthiest regions in the country and a popular bedroom community for executives commuting to Manhattan. Binghamton, the seat of Broome County, is best known as the home of the Binghamton campus of the State University of New York and is known as the "Carousel Capital of the World." But the more than $700,000 variance in sales price is enough to tempt nearly anyone to wonder what it would be like to live elsewhere for less.

These kinds of comparisons are almost impossible not to make when looking over Coldwell Banker's annual Home Price Comparison Index, or HPCI. As it has done for almost 20 years, the 2006 index reveals the most affordable, and the most expensive, housing markets in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.