US Cities With Highest Number of Residents Free of Mortgage Debt

Detroit, Las Vegas, and Miami: These three cities have the distinction of having the most residents who own their homes outright in the nation.

Detroit is the top of the list, with 55 percent of homeowners in "free and clear" status. The median value of non-mortgaged homes in this city are $103,000, while the median value of their mortgaged counterparts are $206,000, according to LendingTree's study. Miami is at 52 percent, and Las Vegas is at 48 percent. By contrast, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Virginia Beach, Va., have the fewest "free and clear" homeowners, ranging between 22 and 23 percent.

Homeowners who do not have mortgage debt can decide if and how they want to access this wealth, perhaps by taking out a loan to address life needs, and are generally better able to absorb financial shocks. The Federal Reserve’s measure of how much wealth households have in real estate equity has climbed from a $6-trillion level nine years ago to about $15 trillion in 2018.

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