If buying a home in New York is on your 2026 vision board, it unfortunately might remain there until 2027–and 2028, and 2029… A new report based on US Census Bureau data looked at homeownership rates throughout the country, and New York landed as the absolute worst in the nation.
The study, conducted by Stage Properties Brokers LLC, tracked quarterly homeownership trends across all 50 states throughout 2024, ranking each state’s homeownership rates based on the share of each state’s population that owned a home in the fourth quarter of that year, as reported by the NY Post.
According to the data, New York ranked as having the lowest homeownership rate in the country by the end of 2024, with just 51.3% of residents owning their homes, making the dream of homeownership feel particularly like a pipe dream.
The report highlights the steep disparities between New York and much of the rest of the country, where it’s the norm to own a home, and not the exception.
West Virginia, for example, topped the national list with 80.5% of residents owning their homes–that means residents in more than four in five households are homeowners.
And that high homeownership rate remains consistent in several Midwestern and Southern states, likely due to lower housing costs, less population pressure, and more abundant single-family housing. Particularly, Michigan and Mississippi tied for second place with ownership rates above 75%.
Over here in New York, the stats are more bleak.
Thanks to a renter-heavy market dominated by high prices, limited inventory, and property prices that far outpace local income growth–New York City, we’re looking at you–homeownership is practically out of the question.
And we’re not the only ones struggling over here on the east coast–a good chunk of the Northeast is right alongside us, with Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island all claiming spots in the bottom ten.
If you ask us, this news certainly doesn’t come as a surprise.
With NYC ranking among the nation’s least affordable housing markets, New Yorkers spend a whopping 70% of our income on homeownership–something many of us can’t even imagine being able to do. Plus, a recent report found that saving for just a 10% downpayment on a home could take us more than 20 years.
With that being said, you may as well get used to handing over $5K a month in rent for your studio apartment!