The Town in Every State Where the Most People Own the Homes They Live In

The American housing market took off during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The homeownership rate – or the share of housing units occupied by their owner – jumped by 2.6 percentage points from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2020, by far the largest increase ever recorded. By the end of 2020, there were 2.1 million more homeowners in the United States than there were a year earlier. 

The surge in home sales was fueled by several factors, including historically low mortgage rates, and, as some experts speculate, the pandemic, which led many Americans to re-evaluate where and how they live. Here is a look at the mortgage rate in America every year since 1972. 

Nationwide, the homeownership rate stands at 64.4%, according to the latest American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This rate varies substantially across the country, however, from state to state, and town to town. 

Using census data, 24/7 Wall St. identified the town in every state with the highest homeownership rate. Towns – defined as places with populations between 2,500 and 25,000 – are ranked by the share of housing units occupied by their owners. 

Among the towns on this list, homeownership rates range from 72.6% to 100% and are anywhere from 1.3 percentage points to 45.9 percentage points higher than the corresponding state homeownership rate. 

In most towns on this list, median household incomes are higher than they are across the state. Higher incomes can help make homeownership more affordable for larger shares of the population and offset the higher than average housing costs that are common in many of the towns on this list. Here is a look at the 20 cities where the middle class can no longer afford housing. 

Click here to see the town in every state where the most people own the homes they live in.
Click here to read our detailed methodology.

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