 Numbers can be terribly boring. They also can tell quite a story. If you don’t believe it, try surfing through the untold number of data pages available online at the U.S. Census Bureau. With a view toward the interesting angles, let’s examine what the Census folks know about real estate.
For example, writing for bizjournals.com, G. Scott Thomas discovered that Utah has the nation’s largest homes, Hawaii has the most expensive homes, and West Virginia residents have the strongest belief in homeownership. Here’s a more detailed sampling of what you can find out surfing the World Wide Web.
Housing units. It should come as no surprise that as the most populous state California has the most houses and apartments—12.2 million give or take a few. That’s a little more than one-tenth of the entire national total of 115.9 million. Wyoming has the fewest units—224,000. Texas has nearly 8.2 million.
Occupancy. The United States has some 68.8 million occupied housing units. Nineteen of every 20 units in Oregon were occupied last year, the nation’s highest occupancy rate. Twenty-two other states, including Texas with 90.6%, were at or more than 90%.
Vacancy. Maine had the most vacant houses in 2000, 19.8%. The national rate was 9.6%. Texas had a 9.4% vacancy rate—1.8% owned and 8.5% rented. Why does Maine have so many vacancies? Vacation homes are empty much of the year.
Ownership. West Virginia has the nation’s biggest percentage of homeowners—76.4%. Twenty states are at 70% or more. The national rate is 66.2%. Texas comes in at 63.8%. San Jacinto County has the state’s highest percentage of owners with 87.8%.
Renting. Most people in the District of Columbia are renters. In fact, 60.6% rent. It is the only “state” with more than 50% renters. Nationwide, the average is 33.8%. In Texas, 36.2% of us are renters.
Average household size. A typical American household had 2.61 residents last year. Utah had the biggest household size with 3.09 people per unit. The District of Columbia was smallest with a 2.2 person average. Texas had 20.3 million households with an average of 2.74 persons each.
Owner households. Texas had 13.5 million owner households in 2000, an average of 2.87 persons each. The national average was 2.71. Utah had the most—3.25—and the District of Columbia the fewest—2.35.
Renter households. Renter households totaled 6.8 million in Texas last year with an average of 2.53 persons each. Nationwide the average was 2.42 with California’s 2.81 tops and Maine’s 1.93 least.
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Small homes. With 37.5% of its residents living in units with three rooms or less, the District of Columbia can claim the nation’s smallest average housing unit. Nationwide, only 15.4% of households live in homes that small.
Large homes. Utah has the biggest share (16.6%) of homes with at least nine rooms. Arkansas and Florida have the fewest—3% each. The national average is 7.1%.
Detached homes. Apartments don’t have much appeal in Iowa, the state with the highest percentage (74.8%) of freestanding homes. D.C. has the smallest percentage of detached homes at 12.4%. The national average is 60.1%.
Big apartment buildings. The District of Columbia is on top in this category with 23.1% of housing units in buildings with at least 50 units. Wyoming has the fewest big apartment buildings at 0.8%.
Mobile homes. South Carolina is the nation’s mobile home champion with 18.6% of its housing units of that manufactured variety. But don’t look for them in the nation’s capital because the District of Columbia only had 105 last year. The national average is 7.4%.
Old homes. If you find old homes appealing, D.C. is the place for you; 55.4% of units there were built before 1950. New York has the second highest percentage of old homes, 46.2%. Nevada has the fewest with only 4.2%. The national average is 23.5%.
What else can you learn from surfing real estate data on the Internet? Pennsylvania homeowners are less likely to move to another house than residents of other states. Nearly 38% have lived in the same house at least 20 years. Nevada has the highest percentage of homeowners who have moved since 1995.
Half of America’s homes are heated with gas from a utility company. More than 84% of Utah’s homes are heated with gas but only 2.9% of Hawaii’s are. Electricity is the second most popular form of heating. Florida heats nearly 88% of its homes that way but Maine only 4.7%.
Speaking of Hawaii, Hawaiians pay the highest rent in America—a median of $813 per month. West Virginians pay least, a $408 median. The national median is $612 per month. Hawaii can also lay claim to the nation’s highest valued median home at $284,536. More than 13% of Hawaii’s homes were valued at $500,000 or more—highest of any state.
That’s just a real estate sampler from the Internet. The Real Estate Center’s Web site (recenter.tamu.edu) alone has more than 26,500 pages of data, news, and information. Check it out.
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