US homeownership rate by age of householder, 1982 to 2025

Download the data (CSV, 1982-2025)

The US homeownership rate by age of householder ran from 24.2% for households headed by someone under 25 to 80.6% for those aged 70 to 74 in 2025, calculated from household counts of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS). The national rate was 65.2%. The rate rises with each age group up to 70 to 74 and dips to 77.4% at 75 and over. For households headed by someone aged 30 to 34, it was 46.6%, under half, as it has been every year since 2011.

The chart above has three views. The first draws the 30 to 34 line against the 50% line, with the 25 to 29 and 35 to 39 groups for context and each year’s value on hover. The second puts every age group on one chart. The third sets 1982 against 2025 for each of the 12 groups. The data behind them, one row per year, can be downloaded from the CSV link under the chart.

What the Census counts

The homeownership rate is the share of households that own the home they live in: owner households divided by all households. The Census Bureau estimates it from the Current Population Survey/Housing Vacancy Survey, every quarter and every year. Its Table 12 gives the annual number of households, and of owner households, for the United States by age of householder since 1982, in 12 groups: under 25, then five-year groups up to 74, then 75 and over.

The age is the householder’s: the person, or one of the persons, in whose name the home is owned or rented (Census HVS definitions). The rate counts households, not people. A 32-year-old who lives with their parents, or rents a room in someone else’s home, is not a householder and does not appear in the 30 to 34 group at all, either as an owner or as a renter.

Two notes on the years. From 1982 to 1988, the Census total includes households whose age was not reported, 645 thousand in 1982; from 1989, they are spread across the age groups. The 1982 national rate is 64.8% as published and 65.0% for households with a reported age; the CSV keeps both. The 2025 estimates rest on 11 months: no CPS/HVS data were collected in October 2025, during a lapse in federal funding.

Households aged 30 to 34: above half until 2010, below since 2011

Of the 12 age groups, 30 to 34 is the only one whose rate has been on both sides of 50% since 1982. In 1982, 57.1% of households headed by someone aged 30 to 34 owned their home. The rate stayed above 50% for 29 straight years, through 2010, with a low of 50.5% in 1992 and a high of 57.4% in 2004. In 2011 it was 49.8%, and it has been under 50% in each of the 15 years from 2011 to 2025, with a low of 45.4% in 2016 and 46.6% in 2025. The years closest to the line since then were 2011 (49.8%), 2023 (49.4%) and 2020 (49.1%).

The two neighbouring groups stay on one side of the line. Households aged 25 to 29 owned at 38.6% in 1982 and 33.3% in 2025, never above 41.8% (2006). Those aged 35 to 39 went from 67.6% to 57.4% and never fell under 55% (lowest 55.3% in 2015).

A flat national rate over a changing age mix

Over the same years, the national rate barely moved: 64.8% in 1982, 65.2% in 2025. It peaked at 69.0% in 2004 and was lowest at 63.4% in 2016. The age groups moved more. Every five-year group from 25 to 64 owned less often in 2025 than in 1982, and the four broad Census groups under 65 all fell: under 35 from 41.2% to 37.0%, 35 to 44 from 70.0% to 60.8%, 45 to 54 from 77.4% to 69.8%, 55 to 64 from 80.0% to 75.9%.

The difference is the mix: households moved toward the older age groups, which own more often. Households headed by someone 65 or older went from 21% of all households in 1982 to 29% in 2025, and owned more often, 78.6% against 74.4%; households headed by someone under 35 went from 30% to 20%. Holding the 1982 share of each of the 12 age groups and applying each year’s rates, the 2025 rate comes out at 60.9%, an Eco3min calculation. The gap between the actual and the age-standardized rate has widened to more than 4 points. The rising share of households 65 and older accounts for less than half of it; the rest comes from the shift among younger households, fewer under 35 and more aged 45 to 64. The result holds with the five broad age groups (61.1%) and with the 1994 age mix as the base (62.0%).

The age-standardized rate follows the same arc as the actual one: it peaked in 2004 (67.1%) and was lowest in 2016 (59.7%). In 2025, it stood above that 2016 low.

Under 25: fewer households, more of them owners

The youngest group is the exception below 65. Households headed by someone under 25 owned at 19.3% in 1982 and 24.2% in 2025. They are also a smaller slice of all households, 7.1% in 1982 and 4.4% in 2025, and fewer in number: 5.9 million against 5.8 million.

One possible reading, which the table cannot test: with fewer people under 25 heading a household of their own, those who do may be a group more likely to own. The survey does not follow the same people over time, so it cannot say who stopped forming a household or why.

What the series leaves out

Sampling error. Table 12 prints no margin of error for its annual age groups. For scale, the Census release of October 28, 2026 puts the 90% margin of error at ±0.5 point on the quarterly national rate (Table 4) and ±0.7 point on the quarterly rate for households under 35 (Table 6). A single year near 50%, such as 49.8% in 2011 or 49.4% in 2023, cannot be told apart from the line on its own; what the series shows is the run of years on each side.

2020. The Census Bureau notes that suspending in-person interviews in 2020 may have pushed the homeownership estimate up, as renters were harder to reach (source and accuracy statement). The 30 to 34 rate was 49.1% that year.

Revisions. Table 12 gives 1993 and 2002 twice, before and after reweighting to the 1990 and 2000 censuses. The CSV keeps the revised figures and notes the others; the 1993 national rate moves from 64.5% to 64.0%.

Causes. The survey records who owns, not why. Prices, mortgage rates, incomes, later marriage and household formation are all put forward, and this series cannot separate them. Some of these are followed on other pages: the real US home price index dataset, how mortgage rates set borrowing capacity, whether rates or prices drove US housing affordability, household income percentiles by age of householder, and the real estate and credit cycles hub.

Two ways to read the same lines

One reading: about the same share of households still buys, only a few years later than in 1982. The 30 to 34 group crossed 50% in 2011, while the 35 to 39 group has stayed above 55% throughout.

The other reading: each age group tops out lower. Households aged 35 to 39 went from 67.6% to 57.4%, those aged 40 to 44 from 73.0% to 64.4%, and every five-year group up to 64 was lower in 2025 than in 1982. The 35 to 39 and 40 to 44 lines are where the two readings part. The yearly table does not follow the same households over time, so it does not settle which one holds.

Methodology and sources

Common misinterpretations

Reading it as the share of people aged 30 to 34 who own. The rate counts households by the age of the householder. Adults living in a home headed by someone else are in neither the numerator nor the denominator of their own age group.

Reading a flat national rate as no change. The national rate was close in 1982 and 2025, but the age mix moved: at the 1982 mix, 2025 comes out at 60.9%.

Reading one year near 50% as the crossing. Table 12 prints no margin of error for the age groups, so a year close to the line, such as 2011 or 2023, cannot be told apart from 50% on its own. The crossing is the run: 29 years above, then 15 below.

Frequently asked questions

What is the homeownership rate by age in the US?

In 2025, 24.2% for households headed by someone under 25, 33.3% at 25 to 29, 46.6% at 30 to 34, 57.4% at 35 to 39, rising to 80.6% at 70 to 74 and 77.4% at 75 and over, calculated from Census CPS/HVS Table 12 household counts. The national rate was 65.2%.

What share of households aged 30 to 34 own their home?

46.6% in 2025. The rate has been under 50% every year since 2011, after 29 years above it; it was 57.1% in 1982.

Is the US homeownership rate going up?

The annual national rate was 65.2% in 2025, above its 2016 low of 63.4% and below its 2004 peak of 69.0%. The latest quarterly estimate is 65.5% for the third quarter of 2026 (Census release of October 28, 2026).

What is the age-adjusted homeownership rate?

Held at the 1982 age mix of households, the 2025 US rate would be 60.9%, against 65.2% measured. This is an Eco3min calculation from Table 12, not a Census statistic.

Does the Census publish a homeownership rate for millennials?

No. Table 12 groups households by the age of the householder in a given year, not by birth year. In 2025, households aged 25 to 29, 30 to 34 and 35 to 39 owned at 33.3%, 46.6% and 57.4%.

Why does 2025 rest on 11 months?

The Census Bureau collected no CPS/HVS data in October 2025, during a lapse in federal funding. The annual 2025 estimates are based on the remaining 11 months.

Conclusion

From 1982 through 2010, more than half of US households headed by someone aged 30 to 34 owned their home; every year from 2011 to 2025, fewer than half did. Over the 43 years from 1982 to 2025, the national rate went from 64.8% to 65.2% while every five-year group from 25 to 64 fell, and the shift of households toward older age groups made up the difference.

The annual 2026 estimates are due with the Census Bureau’s fourth-quarter 2026 release, which was not yet on its release calendar as of November 3, 2026.