Yes but looking at Zillow that $2M Bay Area home would go for $250K in Houston TX. In fact, I can't even find homes small enough in Texas to compare some of the houses I see for sale in the Bay...
And to your second statement, there are plenty of <1000sqft homes, I'm Austin and in my zipcode they start at $600k.
Much better but not cheap. Houston's median home price is $295 Austin's in $550.