The 2023 American Housing Survey marks 50 years of providing a comprehensive assessment of housing in America and includes key benchmarks to strengthen America’s housing industry
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau, released the 2023 American Housing Survey (AHS). The release of this latest survey marks 50 years of AHS being the most comprehensive and authoritative assessment of the nation’s housing inventory.
“At HUD we know the importance of detailed, accurate, and timely data to guide our policymaking. We use insights from the American Housing Survey to develop innovative, data-driven, and effective policies to boost affordable housing and lower housing costs for families,” said Solomon Greene, HUD’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
Every two years, HUD and the Census Bureau produce the American Housing Survey (AHS), the most comprehensive analysis of the nation’s housing inventory. The AHS covers a variety of important housing topics, including the composition and quality of the nation’s housing stock; rents, mortgages and other housing costs; and neighborhood conditions. The AHS is used by the public, policymakers and professionals in many fields for research, planning, and decision making, as well as to understand the current state of our nation’s housing markets and how they have changed over time. Today’s release includes a Table Creator, which can be used to create custom tables by geographic area, demographics, income, and other characteristics and the Public Use File, which contains household-level survey responses.
The American Housing Survey (AHS) is the largest regular national housing sample survey in the U.S. and tracks housing units over time. This can provide us insights on how homes age and how the occupants of homes change. Findings included in the 2023 AHS will inform policymakers and professionals for research, planning, and evidence-based decisions that benefit Americans and strengthen the domestic housing industry.
HUD found a variety of key findings from this year’s survey:
- American homeowners have made energy efficiency improvements, including more than 3 million consumers who’ve installed solar panels since 2019.
- Since the 2021 AHS survey was conducted, homeowners saw increases in home values while median renter housing costs surpassed median owner costs.
- Additionally, one in ten homeowners are first-generation homeowners, and many of these new homeowners are Hispanic.
- From 1973 to 2023, the number of housing units in the United States has nearly doubled from about 76 million homes to more than 145 million in 2023.
- HUD also noted multiple notable increases in housing quality:
- The percentage of housing units where the heating system broke down in the last winter was 8.3 percent in 1973 compared with 2.7 percent in 2023.
- Roof leaks were experienced by 7.6 percent of households in 1973 and 4.4 percent in 2023.
- The percentage of housing units with open cracks or holes in walls decreased from 6 percent in 1973 to and 5.4 percent in 2023.
- The percentage of households that reported daily exposure to tobacco smoke inside their home dropped from 8.1 percent in 2015 to 6.1 percent in 2023, a decrease of nearly 1.4 million households.
The 2023 AHS includes new information on housing insecurity, extreme heat, power outages, health and safety characteristics of housing units, perceptions of urbanization, first generation homeownership, the generation of the householder, and the sexual orientation and gender identity of the respondent.
Key Metropolitan Area Statistics
Similar statistics are available for the following 20 metropolitan areas and 11 states:
15 Largest Metropolitan Areas
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
- Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
- Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
- San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
- Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
5 Additional Large Metropolitan Areas
- Cincinnati, OH
- Cleveland, OH
- Denver, CO
- Milwaukee, WI
- New Orleans, LA
11 States
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Illinois
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Virginia
For more information on the American Housing Survey, see the Census Bureau’s website. All differences in this release are statistically significant at the 90% confidence level.