  The determination of extrasolar planet masses with the radial velocity (RV)
technique requires spectroscopic Doppler information from the planet's host
star, which varies with stellar brightness and temperature. We analyze Doppler
information in spectra of F--M dwarfs utilizing empirical information from
HARPS and CARMENES, and from model spectra. We come to the conclusions that an
optical setup ($BVR$-bands) is more efficient that a near-infrared one ($YJHK$)
in dwarf stars hotter than 3200\,K. We publish a catalogue of 46,480
well-studied F--M dwarfs in the solar neighborhood and compare their
distribution to more than one million stars from Gaia DR2. For all stars, we
estimate the RV photon noise achievable in typical observations assuming no
activity jitter and slow rotation. We find that with an ESPRESSO-like
instrument at an 8m-telescope, a photon noise limit of 10\,cm\,s$^{-1}$ or
lower can be reached in more than 280 stars in a 5\,min observation. At
4m-telescopes, a photon noise limit of 1\,m\,s$^{-1}$ can be reached in a
10\,min exposure in approx.\ 10,000 predominantly sun-like stars with a
HARPS-like (optical) instrument. The same applies to $\sim$3000 stars for a
red-optical setup covering the $RIz$-bands, and to $\sim$700 stars for a
near-infrared instrument. For the latter two, many of the targets are nearby M
dwarfs. Finally, we identify targets in which Earth-mass planets within the
liquid water habitable zone can cause RV amplitudes comparable to the RV photon
noise. Assuming the same exposure times, we find that an ESPRESSO-like
instrument can reach this limit for 1\,M$_\Earth$ planets in more than 1000
stars. The optical, red-optical, and near-infrared configurations reach the
limit for 2\,M$_\Earth$ planets in approximately 500, 700, and 200 stars,
respectively.
