What is commonly counted as “living area” in a raised ranch style home? Asked another way, when you see the square footage of a raised ranch in a listing, what portions of the house does that count?

1. Upstairs and the finished portion downstairs
2. Upstairs only
3. All finished space except the hallways and bathrooms
4. Downstairs only

Answer: Choice B, Upstairs Only. Most towns in Greater Hartford count all of the upstairs square footage, including the hallways and bathrooms, as a raised ranch’s livable area. This can vary by town, or unique attributes of the home, but your first thought should be that the listing is telling you the size of the upstairs. If there is additional finished space on the lower level, you would need to mentally add that to the square footage in the listing in order to make a true size comparison between a raised ranch and a different style home, like a colonial.