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In the rolling mountains, hills and valleys of Appalachia, you'll find the state with the highest percentage of homes occupied by their owners: West Virginia. The Mountain State has the highest homeownership rate in the entire country, at 74.5 percent, according to the latest Census Bureau data.
Coincidentally, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the average home value in West Virginia is less than half that for the entire country. As of February 29, the average home value in the Mountain State was $155,491—down 30.8 percent compared with a year before.
The national average home value was $347,716, down 44.4 percent year over year, according to real estate website Zillow.
The U.S. homeownership rate, which peaked during the boom years of the pandemic, only to drop dramatically between the second half of 2020 and the beginning of 2022, is still struggling to recover amid stubbornly high mortgage rates and historically high prices.
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In the second quarter of 2020, the country's homeownership rate peaked at 68.1 percent—a level not seen since the second quarter of 2008, during the financial crisis sparked by the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble, according to data from the Federal Reserve of St. Louis.
But in the fourth quarter of 2020, homeownership had dropped to 65.7 percent. At its lowest point, in the third quarter of 2021, the rate slid to 65.3 percent.
While the homeownership rate started to modestly recover in the second quarter of 2022, when it climbed back up to 65.9 percent, in the third and fourth quarters of 2023 it started going down again. The latest data shows the rate at the national level was 65.7 percent in the final quarter of last year.
The situation is very different at the state level. Some states—normally the ones with cheaper housing—are faring much better than others.
Newsweek contacted the U.S. Census Bureau for comment by email.
After West Virginia, two states on the East Coast, Maine and Delaware, had the second-highest rate of homeownership, both at 74.1 percent. Vermont trailed them with a 73.7 percent rate.
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The East Coast also has the state with the lowest rate of homeownership in the country: New York, at 54.1 percent. On the opposite side of the country is the second-lowest rate in the nation: California's 55.8 percent.
In New York, the average home value is $732,594, down 24.4 percent year over year, according to Zillow. In California, it is higher, at $765,197, down 44.5 percent compared with a year before.
Two of California's neighboring states have some of the lowest homeownership rates in the country: Nevada (60.3 percent) and Oregon (62.8 percent). On the East Coast, Rhode Island had a rate of 63.3 percent and Massachusetts had 62.2 percent.
In the South, Texas had the lowest homeownership rate, at 62.5 percent. Hawaii fared slightly better, at 62.6 percent. In Texas and Hawaii, the average home values are $298,624 and $839,013, respectively. Both states have seen prices plunge in the past year.
Below is homeownership rate data for all states.
| State | Homeownership rate | Margin of error |
| Alabama | 70.20% | ± 0.6% |
| Alaska | 66.10% | ± 1.5% |
| Arizona | 67.40% | ± 0.5% |
| Arkansas | 66.50% | ± 0.7% |
| California | 55.80% | ± 0.2% |
| Colorado | 66.40% | ± 0.5% |
| Connecticut | 66.30% | ± 0.7% |
| Delaware | 74.10% | ± 1.2% |
| Florida | 67.20% | ± 0.3% |
| Georgia | 65.90% | ± 0.4% |
| Hawaii | 62.60% | ± 1.1% |
| Idaho | 72.30% | ± 0.9% |
| Illinois | 67.10% | ± 0.4% |
| Indiana | 70.80% | ± 0.5% |
| Iowa | 72.00% | ± 0.6% |
| Kansas | 67.70% | ± 0.7% |
| Kentucky | 68.80% | ± 0.5% |
| Louisiana | 67.60% | ± 0.6% |
| Maine | 74.10% | ± 0.9% |
| Maryland | 67.70% | ± 0.6% |
| Massachusetts | 62.20% | ± 0.5% |
| Michigan | 73.20% | ± 0.4% |
| Minnesota | 72.10% | ± 0.5% |
| Mississippi | 69.90% | ± 0.7% |
| Missouri | 67.60% | ± 0.5% |
| Montana | 68.80% | ± 1.0% |
| Nebraska | 66.00% | ± 0.9% |
| Nevada | 60.30% | ± 0.8% |
| New Hampshire | 72.30% | ± 1.0% |
| New Jersey | 64.60% | ± 0.4% |
| New Mexico | 70.90% | ± 0.7% |
| New York | 54.10% | ± 0.3% |
| North Carolina | 66.70% | ± 0.4% |
| North Dakota | 65.10% | ± 1.2% |
| Ohio | 67.30% | ± 0.4% |
| Oklahoma | 65.40% | ± 0.4% |
| Oregon | 62.80% | ± 0.5% |
| Pennsylvania | 69.10% | ± 0.3% |
| Rhode Island | 63.30% | ± 1.3% |
| South Carolina | 72.00% | ± 0.6% |
| South Dakota | 69.60% | ± 1.1% |
| Tennessee | 67.20% | ± 0.5% |
| Texas | 62.50% | ± 0.2% |
| Utah | 71.20% | ± 0.7% |
| Vermont | 73.70% | ± 1.3% |
| Virginia | 67.40% | ± 0.4% |
| Washington | 64.20% | ± 0.4% |
| West Virginia | 74.50% | ± 0.8% |
| Wisconsin | 68.10% | ± 0.4% |
| Wyoming | 72.70% | ± 1.4% |
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more