New homeownership measure puts people first | Federal Reserve Bank of MinneapolisNew homeownership measure puts people first<br>An alternative way of calculating the homeownership rate tells us how many individuals own their homes—something the most commonly used metric fails to track<br>July 15, 2026
Authors
Erik HembreSenior Economist, Community Development and Engagement
Ben HorowitzSenior Policy Analyst, Community Development and Engagement
Maxine XuData Scientist, Community Development and Engagement
David Sacks/Getty Images<br>Article Highlights<br>Just over half of U.S. adults own their home, new measure says<br>New measure better captures young adults’ lower homeownership<br>Approach demonstrates ties between homeownership and local housing costs
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The homeownership rate in the United States is reported to be 65 percent. But this commonly cited data point on homeownership is actually the owner-occupancy rate, which tells us how many housing units are occupied by an owner. While owner occupancy is an interesting measure, it doesn’t tell us how many people own their home. As an alternative to better reflect the share of adults who are homeowners, we offer the homeowners-to-population ratio, or HPOP, a measure that lends a more nuanced view for important policy considerations and context. Using this new measure, the U.S. homeownership rate is 53 percent.
To further its mission of pursuing a growing economy and stable financial system that work for all of us, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis works to understand economic conditions in the Ninth Federal Reserve District and beyond. Homeownership trends are a critical component of those conditions. Housing is both the largest expense and the largest source of wealth for many families. Using the HPOP helps us understand housing better in several ways. For example, the HPOP accounts for millions of American adults who would not be identified as either homeowners or renters under the traditional owner-occupancy measure. By including all adults, the HPOP gives us a more accurate understanding of the economic well-being of Americans. Measuring homeownership by the person instead of by the home is particularly important for comparing characteristics of homeowners: by age, by geography, and across time.
Understanding homeownership measures
To better understand the difference between the traditional owner-occupancy measure and the HPOP, consider a hypothetical cul-de-sac with five housing units, each of which is home to a separate group of residents:
Housing unit 1 . A couple owns their home. The woman’s parents live with them.
Housing unit 2 . A couple owns their home. Their son, a recent college graduate, lives with them.
Housing unit 3 . A man owns his home. A friend lives with him.
Housing unit 4 . A couple owns their home. Their two young children live with them.
Housing unit 5 . Three roommates rent their home. The owner lives elsewhere.
As illustrated in Figure 1, these five housing units are home to 14 adults. Because four of these five housing units have their respective owners as residents, the owner-occupancy rate—the measure traditionally viewed as the homeownership rate—on the cul-de-sac is 80 percent. However, because only seven of the 14 adults are actually owners of the homes they live in, the HPOP is much lower, at 50 percent.
Picturing a new approach for measuring the homeownership rate
Note: A downloadable version of this figure is available here.
Credit: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Traditional: Owner occupancy
Share of occupied housing units where the owner is a resident<br>New: HPOP (homeowners-to-population ratio)
Share of the adult population that owns their home
■ Housing unit includes a homeowner
■ Housing unit does not include a homeowner
■ Adults who are homeowners
■ Adults who are not homeowners
Housing unit 1:<br>Couple owns the home, woman's parents live with them.
Housing unit 2: Couple owns the home, recent college graduate son lives with them.
Housing unit 3: Man owns the home,<br>friend lives with him.
Housing unit 4: Couple owns the home,<br>young children live with them.
Housing unit 5: Three roommates rent the home,<br>owner lives elsewhere.
80% homeownership rate
4 out of 5 housing units include a homeowner<br>50% homeownership rate
7 out of 14 adults are homeowners
Calculating the HPOP
To calculate the HPOP, we divide the total population of adult homeowners by the total adult population. For this analysis, we use data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS).1 To determine the total population of adults, we exclude anyone under age 18. To identify homeowners, we then look among the adults living in owner-occupied housing. The ACS tags the homeowner within such homes as the “reference person” (or “head”) for their household. We then...