Homeownership in the United States

The homeownership rate in the United States is the percentage of households that are owner-occupied. U.S. homeownership rates vary depending on a household's demographic characteristics, such as ethnicity, race, location, type of household, and type of settlement. At the start of 2025, the seasonally adjusted U.S. homeownership rate was 65.2%, down from 67.1% in 2000. By comparison, the European Union homeownership rate stood at 69% as of 2022.

In recent decades, the U.S. homeownership rate has remained relatively stable—it was at 62.1% in 1960. However, homeowner equity has fallen steadily since World War II and is now on average less than 50% of the value of the home. The annual U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that homeownership is most common in rural areas and suburbs, with three quarters of suburban households being homeowners. Among the country's regions, the Midwest has the highest homeownership rate and the Western U.S. has the lowest. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago examined the decline in homeownership rates where the "head of household" was 25 to 44 years of age. The rates fell substantially between 1980 and 2000, and recovered only partially during the U.S. housing bubble of the early 2000s. The research indicated that post-1980 trends toward (a) marrying later, and (b) greater instability in household earnings, accounted for a large share of the decline in young homeownership.

U.S. homeowners tend to have higher-than-average incomes. Owner-occupied households were more likely to be families (as opposed to individuals) than were their tenant counterparts. Among racial demographics, White Americans had the country's highest homeownership rate, while African Americans had the lowest rate. One study shows that homeownership rates correlated with higher educational attainment.

The term "homeownership rate" can be misleading. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, it is the percentage of homes that are occupied by the owner. It is not the percentage of adults that own their home. This latter percentage will be significantly lower than the homeownership rate. Many owner-occupied households contain adult relatives (often young adults, descendants of the owner) who do not own a home. Single building multi-bedroom rental units can house more than one adult, all of whom do not own a home. The term can also be misleading because it includes households that owe on a mortgage, which means they do not possess full equity in the home they are said to "own". According to ATTOM Data Research, only "34 percent of all American homeowners have 100 percent equity in their properties – they’ve either paid off their entire mortgage debt or they never had a mortgage".

In 2017, CNBC reported that the median sale price for a U.S. home was US$199,200. In early 2025, Statista forecast that the median sale price would jump to US$426,000 by 2nd quarter 2026. The growing U.S. housing shortage is a major factor in home prices increasing so rapidly.