Homeowners-to-population ratio, or HPOP, data
The measure that we traditionally think of as the homeownership rate in the United States is actually the owner-occupancy rate, or the share of occupied housing units where the owner is a resident. As an alternative, we offer the homeowners-to-population ratio, or HPOP, a measure that better reflects the actual rate of homeownership.
The HPOP answers the question: What share of the adult population owns their home? While the owner-occupancy rate and the HPOP are tightly linked, they have important differences driven by accounting for adults who live in owner-occupied units but do not own them, household size across rental and owner-occupied units, and the inclusion of adults living in group quarters. Figure 1 shows how the owner-occupancy and HPOP measures yield different homeownership rates over time.
Figure 2 shows state-by-state differences between the owner-occupancy rate and the HPOP.
Download the data estimates behind the HPOP
We welcome you to download our estimates of the HPOP. The estimates are based on American Community Survey data and are available from 2006 through 2024 by geography or demographic characteristic. Our full suite of data series, including any prior versions, is available in our online repository. For more details about our methodology, see the “README” file located there.