Homeownership rate
The share of occupied housing units that are lived in by an owner.
The share of occupied housing units that are owner-occupied.
Tenure is one of the oldest housing questions the Census Bureau asks. "The question was asked at occupied housing units. Occupied housing units are classified as either owner-occupied or renter-occupied" (ACS Subject Definitions).
The Bureau's test for ownership is residence, not a paid-off mortgage: "A housing unit is owner-occupied if the owner or co-owner lives in the unit, even if it is mortgaged or not fully paid for. The owner or co-owner must live in the unit." A unit is counted as owned with a mortgage if it is being bought under a mortgage, deed of trust, contract to purchase, land contract, or purchase agreement, or if it carries a home equity line of credit.
The Bureau notes that "tenure provides a measurement of home ownership, which has served as an indicator of the nation's economy for decades," and that the data allow planners "to evaluate the overall viability of housing markets and to assess the stability of neighborhoods."
The denominator is occupied units only. Vacant units have no tenure and are outside this measure; they are covered by vacancy.
Metrics in this family#
Homeownership rate
The current share of occupied units that are owner-occupied, taken from the most recent ACS 5-year vintage.
Homeownership trend
Change in that share over 3, 5, or 10 years, selectable in the tool.
Because homeownership is a rate, its trend is reported as a change in percentage points rather than as a percentage change, which keeps places that started at different levels comparable.
Considerations#
Ownership and renting are the only two categories the Bureau assigns to an occupied unit, so this rate and the renter share are two readings of the same underlying split rather than two independent facts about a place. They are published separately because each answers a different question, but a place that is high on one is low on the other by definition.
ACS 5-year windows overlap. Each vintage shares four of its five years with the vintage before it, so year-over-year movement reflects smoothed rolling estimates rather than independent annual readings, and turning points appear later than they occurred.
Census tract boundaries were redrawn for the 2020 census. Estimates published on earlier boundaries are carried onto current ones before use, which bears most on the longer trend windows — see geography.
Tracts made up largely of group quarters, such as dormitories and correctional facilities, have few or no conventional occupied housing units and are not given a rate. In tracts with few occupied units the estimate carries a wide margin of error.
References#
- 1ACS Subject Definitionshttps://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/subject_definitions/2024_ACSSubjectDefinitions.pdf