Which US Counties Have the Highest and Lowest Homeownership Rates

Despite the continued rise in homeownership rates since 2015 and the extra boost from the post-pandemic housing boom, the National Association of Home Builders’ Eye on Housing reports that U.S. homeownership rates remain below the levels reached during the mid-2000s housing boom.

NAHB analyzed county-level data from the 2021 five-year (2009-2021) American Community Survey and found significant variation in homeownership rates across U.S. counties, ranging from less than 25% in New York's urban counties to more than 90% in the exurban counties of Denver and in the South.

Population density also helps explain substantial variation in homeownership rates across US counties. Urban high-density counties register some of the lowest rates. Four core urban counties in the New York metro area appear in the bottom ten homeownership rate list – Bronx (19.8%), New York County (24.7%), Kings County (30.7%), Hudson County (32.3%). In California, the lowest homeownership rates are in San Francisco County (38.2%) and Los Angeles County (46.2%). In the Washington DC metro area, the three core central counties register homeownership rates below 43% – District of Columbia (41.5%), Arlington County (42.3%), Alexandria city (42.9%). At the same time, its outlying Madison and Calvert Counties show homeownership rates of 82.4% and 85.3%, respectively.

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