Home Values Rose Sharply in U.S. Island Areas

New 2020 Island Areas Censuses Data Show Homeownership and Median Home Values in the Four Island Areas

July 20, 2023

Written by:

William Chapin

Median home values in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) were the highest ($290,600) among the four Island Areas included in the 2020 Island Areas Censuses released today but the biggest jump in home values (48%) was in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) from 2010 to 2020.

The new 2020 Island Areas Censuses Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC) tables provide detailed homeownership and home values data at lower levels of geography than available in previously released 2020 Island Areas Censuses data for Guam, CNMI, American Samoa and USVI.

This article focuses on high-level geographies on each of the four Island Areas but because there are no counties or county equivalent geographies in Guam, no comparisons can be made at that geographic level (Table 1).

Table 1. Homeownership Values for U.S. Island Areas: 2020

Median home value increased by 48.8% in the CNMI from 2010 to 2020, from $123,800 to $184,200, the largest percentage increase of the four Island Areas, while Guam had the largest dollar increase ($61,700) in median home values, from $216,100 to $277,800 (Table 2).

USVI had the lowest percentage increase (14.3%) and American Samoa the smallest dollar increase ($16,200) over the decade.

Table 2. Median Home Value by U.S. Island Area: 2010-2020

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)

Located in the western Pacific Ocean, CNMI is made up of four county equivalents called municipalities. The smallest, the Northern Islands, is sparsely populated and had no housing units in 2010. The other main islands are Rota, Saipan and Tinian.

Table 3 shows that Saipan Municipality had the highest median home value ($201,500) of the CNMI municipalities, followed closely by Tinian Municipality ($197,200). Northern Islands Municipality had the lowest median home value ($65,000) by far and Rota Municipality was the only one where home values dropped, down 7.5% to $101,700.

Table 3. Median Home Value by Municipality in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands: 2010-2020

American Samoa

Located in the south Pacific, American Samoa had the lowest median home value of the Island Areas ($84,400) but saw a 23.8% increase from 2010 to 2020.

There are five districts or county equivalents in American Samoa, two of which (Rose Island and Swains Island) had no owner-occupied housing units.

As shown in Table 4, of the remaining three districts, the median home value in Manu’a increased by nearly 50% (from $57,500 to $85,800) and in the Western district by more than 43%. In contrast, the median home value in the Eastern district decreased slightly, from $67,600 to $66,300.

Table 4. Median Home Value by District in American Samoa: 2010-2020

Guam

Guam, located in the western Pacific, had the largest dollar increase in home value of the Island Areas. The median home value rose 28.6%, from $216,100 in 2010 to $277,800 in 2020.

Although this release does not have county data for Guam, it does include detailed data on a wide range of sub-island geographies, including towns and cities (referred to as “Places”), subcounty breakouts and Census Tracts and many other geography levels.

U.S. Virgin Islands

USVI, in the Atlantic Ocean, had the highest overall median home value in 2020 — $290,600, up 14.3% from $254,300 in 2010.

The three Islands in the USVI — St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas — are considered counties (Table 5).

Median home value increased 18.7% in St. Croix and 21.6% in St. Thomas. Despite a smaller 10.6% decrease in St. John, the median home value there remained significantly higher than in the other two counties in 2020: $591,200 compared to $357,000 in St. Thomas and $247,100 in St. Croix.