Census shows 6.7% increase in U.S. housing since 2010

WASHINGTON D.C.–The 2020 Census showed that on April 1, 2020, there were 140,498,736 housing units in the United States, up 6.7% from the 2010 Census.

“While the national number of housing units grew over the past decade, this was not uniform throughout the country,” said Evan Brassell, chief of the Housing Statistics Branch in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division. “Counties that composed some part of a metropolitan or micropolitan area saw increases of 3.8%, on average, while counties outside of these areas showed decreases of 3.9% on average.”

State highlights:

• Texas had the largest numeric growth in housing units with 1,611,888.

• The county with the largest percent increase in housing was McKenzie County, North Dakota, with a 147.9% increase.

• West Virginia and Puerto Rico were the only two states or state equivalents that lost housing units.

• There were 126,817,580 occupied housing units and 13,681,156 vacant units in the United States.

Housing unit statistics for the nation, states and counties are available in the 2020 Population and Housing data visualization. More information is available in the following America Counts stories: Growth in Housing Units Slowed in the Last Decade and U.S. Housing Vacancy Rate Declined in Past Decade.

2020 Census Findings on Group Quarters

The U.S. population for group quarters was 8,239,016 as of April 1, 2020. This was an increase of 3.2% over the 2010 Census group quarters population. Group quarters include such places as college residence halls, residential treatment centers, skilled-nursing facilities, group homes, military barracks, correctional facilities, and workers’ dormitories.

“In 2020, the group quarters population represented 2.5% of the total U.S. population, down from 2.6% in 2010,” said Steven Wilson, chief of the Population and Housing Programs Branch in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “We also saw that college and university student housing was the most populous group living arrangement at 2,792,097, up 10.7% since 2010.”

Group quarters highlights:

•The second-largest group quarters population was correctional facilities for adults at 1,967,297, which decreased from the 2010 Census by 296,305 (13.1%).

•The state with the largest group quarters population was California at 917,932, with the largest share of that population counted at other noninstitutional group quarters.

•The group quarters population in Puerto Rico decreased 1.2% since 2010 to 37,509.

Producing Quality Data While Protecting Anonymity

The redistricting data are the first from the 2020 Census to use differential privacy, a mathematical method that applies carefully calibrated statistical noise to a dataset and allows a balance between privacy and accuracy. More information is available in 2020 Census Data Products: Disclosure Avoidance Modernization and Redistricting Data: What to Expect and When.