When it comes to buying a home, $300,000 will get you more house in some states than others.

Personal finance website GOBankingRates used real estate website Zillow's home price index to determine just how far that much money can go.

Some of the results — which peg the Northeast and West Coast as high-cost and the heartland as more affordable — may not come as a shock, according to Cameron Huddleston, life and money columnist for GOBankingRates.

"What is a surprise is how much you're going to pay," Huddleston said.

That goes particularly when you compare the most expensive and least expensive areas. In West Virginia, the cheapest state, you can buy five times the square footage compared with Washington, D.C., the most expensive location.