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 many 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 five-year estimates from the 2020 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This rate varies substantially from state to state, however.

In Utah, the homeownership rate stands at 70.5%, higher than the national average.

Homeownership rates in different parts of the country are impacted by many factors, and one of them is housing costs. Though it is not always the case, states where housing is more expensive often have lower than average homeownership rates, while areas where home prices are lower often have high homeownership — but Utah is an exception. The typical home in Utah is worth an estimated $305,400, more than the national median of $229,800.

 

Rank	State	Homeownership rate (%)	Median home value ($)	Median household income ($)
1	West Virginia	73.7	123,200	48,037
2	Maine	72.9	198,000	59,489
3	Minnesota	71.9	235,700	73,382
4	Michigan	71.7	162,600	59,234
5	Delaware	71.4	258,300	69,110
6	Vermont	71.3	230,900	63,477
7	Iowa	71.2	153,900	61,836
8	New Hampshire	71.2	272,300	77,923
9	Wyoming	71.0	228,000	65,304
10	Idaho	70.8	235,600	58,915
11	Utah	70.5	305,400	74,197
12	South Carolina	70.1	170,100	54,864
13	Indiana	69.5	148,900	58,235
14	Alabama	69.2	149,600	52,035
15	Pennsylvania	69.0	187,500	63,627
16	Mississippi	68.8	125,500	46,511
17	Montana	68.5	244,900	56,539
18	South Dakota	68.0	174,600	59,896
19	New Mexico	68.0	175,700	51,243
20	Kentucky	67.6	147,100	52,238
21	Missouri	67.1	163,600	57,290
22	Wisconsin	67.1	189,200	63,293
23	Maryland	67.1	325,400	87,063
24	Virginia	66.7	282,800	76,398
25	Louisiana	66.6	168,100	50,800
26	Tennessee	66.5	177,600	54,833
27	Ohio	66.3	151,400	58,116
28	Illinois	66.3	202,100	68,428
29	Kansas	66.2	157,600	61,091
30	Nebraska	66.2	164,000	63,015
31	Florida	66.2	232,000	57,703
32	Colorado	66.2	369,900	75,231
33	Oklahoma	66.1	142,400	53,840
34	Connecticut	66.1	279,700	79,855
35	Arkansas	65.8	133,600	49,475
36	North Carolina	65.7	182,100	56,642
37	Arizona	65.3	242,000	61,529
38	Alaska	64.8	275,600	77,790
39	New Jersey	64.0	343,500	85,245
40	Georgia	64.0	190,200	61,224
41	Washington	63.3	366,800	77,006
42	Oregon	62.8	336,700	65,667
43	Massachusetts	62.5	398,800	84,385
44	North Dakota	62.5	199,900	65,315
45	Texas	62.3	187,200	63,826
46	Rhode Island	61.6	276,600	70,305
47	Hawaii	60.3	636,400	83,173
48	Nevada	57.1	290,200	62,043
49	California	55.3	538,500	78,672
50	New York	54.1	325,000	71,117

 

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