Renters Outnumber Buyers in Major U.S. Cities

Renters surpassed buyers in 22 U.S. cities between 2006 and 2016, according to U.S Census data analyzed in a recent RENTCafé report.

Realtor.com reports that Toledo, Ohio, topped the list of cities that transitioned from majority homeowners to majority renters with a 31.3 percent rise in number of renters over the decade. Also high on the list were Memphis, Tenn., Tampa and Hialeah, Fla., Stockton and Anaheim, Calif., and Honolulu.

"In the late 2000s when the crisis hit, due to the huge wave of foreclosures, many people were forced into renting," says Balazs Szekely, a writer for RENTCafé. "That’s the main reason for this huge paradigm shift.”

The poor economy with so many folks out of work, worried about losing their jobs, underemployed, or earning stagnant wages also made it hard—or downright impossible—for many aspiring homeowners to enter the market. Some of those who had the means to buy, particularly millennials, chose to rent instead.

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