# Median of Medians calculation

I do a bunch of real estate reporting and the median price is often reported, particularly by the NAR (National Association Of Realtors). As best I can tell, they only get the medians of real estate prices from each area. My question is, how should the national median be calculated, given the data restrictions? As a median of medians, as a simple average of medians, or weighted average of medians or something entirely different? Second, how valid would these estimates be? I know that the NAR is not getting the total transaction table, so can a reasonably accurate representation of the median still be estimated at the national level? I ask, in particular, because regional density and prices and market variances are so large.

• Can you please work on the style and clarity of your question? – user88 Nov 11 '10 at 23:13
• if I understand this correctly, dartdog wants to know whether the median of medians is the can be used to calculate the median of the whole sample, i.e. if $M=M_1 \cup M_2 \cup \ldots \cup M_k$ then median($M$)=median(median$(M_1)$,median$(M_2)$,$\ldots$,median$(M_k)$)... – psj Nov 13 '10 at 19:23