Nearly All U.S. Counties Had More Homeowners Than Renters Between 2019 and 2023

DEC. 12, 2024 - The number of owner-occupied housing units increased by 8.4%, from 76.4 million in 2014-2018 to 82.9 million in 2019-2023, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.

The 2019-2023 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates show that more people owned homes than rented in 3,070 of the nation's 3,144 counties and county equivalents between 2019 and 2023.

Additionally, home values increased 21.7% between the 2014-2018 ACS 5-year estimates and the 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, going from a median of $249,400 to $303,400 (estimates from 2014-2018 are adjusted for inflation). The counties with some of the largest dollar amount increases were Pitkin County, Colorado ($758,800 to $1,131,200); Teton County, Wyoming ($1,007,200 to $1,371,900); Dukes County, Massachusetts ($812,400 to $1,104,100); San Mateo ($1,210,100 to $1,494,500) and Santa Clara ($1,111,400 to $1,382,800) counties in California; and Summit County, Utah ($729,000 to $1,000,400).

The rise in both homeownership and home values also came with an increase in the number of owner-occupied households without a mortgage, increasing between the two 5-year periods by 3.9 million units, from 36.9% of owned homes in the 2014-2018 ACS estimates to 38.8% in the 2019-2023 ACS estimates.

"The increase in the number of owned homes without a mortgage could partially explain why the median amount of income homeowners spent toward housing costs decreased from 18.3% to 17.5%," said Caroline Short, a survey statistician in the Census Bureau's Housing Statistics Branch. "Housing data also showed that 61.2% of owned homes had a mortgage. Moreover, the median ratio of income to housing costs for mortgaged homes decreased slightly from 21.6% to 20.9%. But the actual median dollar amount of monthly housing cost rose slightly from $1,897 to $1,902."

The amount of income that goes toward housing costs has differed between renters and owners, with renters traditionally paying more of their income toward housing.

Other 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates housing highlights related to rented units include:

• There were no counties where the median homeowner costs, as a percentage of income, was greater than 30%, whereas in over 200 counties, the median gross rent as a percentage of income was greater than 30%. These households who spent more than 30% of their income toward housing costs are considered "cost burdened" by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
• There were 20.0 million rented units paying more than 30% of their monthly income toward housing costs in the 2019-2023 5-year ACS, as opposed to 17.3 million owned units.
• While the overall share of households that rented decreased, the number of rented units did increase by over a million units (43.3 million to 44.6 million). There were 42.4 million renter-occupied homes that paid cash rent according to the 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which was an increase of about 1.4 million units from the 2014-2018 ACS 5-year estimates. Much of this increase was driven by a small number of counties. Some of the counties that added the largest number of units paying cash rent were: Harris, Travis and Bexar counties in Texas; Kings County, New York; and Miami-Dade County, Florida.
• Median gross rent (rent plus utilities) increased nationally by about $100, from $1,246 to $1,348 per month. Many of the counties with the highest median gross rents were either in California (such as San Mateo, Santa Clara, Marin and San Francisco counties), Virginia (such as Arlington, Loudon and Fairfax counties), or New York (such as Nassau, Suffolk and New York counties).

ACS 5-year estimates are available for all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, congressional and state legislative districts, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties, places, and other geographies down to census tracts and block groups.

Additional highlights include: