Where are people having the hardest time buying a house? A Social Explorer analysis of homeownership over the last decade offers a surprising answer. Homeownership fell in only 30 percent of the nation’s 885 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) between 2011 and 2021, according to the annual American Community Survey. But an analysis of 3,140 counties during the same period – essentially, the entire United States – found homeownership fell 58 percent. The results indicate that the greatest losses in homeownership were concentrated in rural America.

Among counties with more than 10,000 housing units, homeownership fell 16.2 percent in Williams County, N.D.; 12 percent in Petersburg City, Va.; and 9.7 percent in Natchitoches County, La. There were 8.4 percent more homeowners in 2021 than in 2011 in Tooele County, Utah; 8.3 percent in Eagle County, Colo.; and 8.3 percent in Jackson County, Ohio.

Use Social Explorer’s unique, customizable mapping and reporting tools to check out changes in homeownership in your county over the last decade.

Occupied Housing Units: Owner Occupied. Click here to explore further.

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Author: Frank Bass