Who Lives in Homes They Own?

An estimated 14.6 million householders reported being English alone or in any combination, making that the largest group of owner-occupied households at the national level in 2020. They were followed by German alone or in any combination (13.9 million) and Irish alone or in any combination (11.3 million).

Twenty-three other detailed alone or in any combination groups had over one million owner-occupied households, including African American (3.8 million), Scottish (2.6 million) and Chinese, except Taiwanese (1.1 million).

In 2020, many states mirrored the national patterns: English alone or in any combination was the largest group of owner-occupied households in 25 states and German alone or in any combination was the largest in 18 states. 

Although these two race groups were the largest, they were not necessarily the majority of homeowners in that state as there is great diversity in homeownership by race.

The following detailed race alone or in any combination groups comprised the largest number of owner-occupied households in the remaining states and the District of Columbia:

• Irish – Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island.
• African American – the District of Columbia.
• Japanese – Hawaii.

The new data are critical in identifying changing trends in homeownership from 2010 to 2020 for the nation’s detailed race and ethnicity groups. For example, they show that home ownership among the Mexican population increased by 27.5% (from 3.90 million to 4.98 million) during the 10-year period.  

While this article only covers the national and state data, this same information is available for smaller geographies like counties and census tracts or neighborhoods.

The data can supplement information already published by the American Community Survey in its Special Population Tables (SPT) and American Indian Alaskan Native Tables (AIANT) to gain a better understanding of the nation’s housing and households.