Renting vs. Owning a Home as We Get Older

One-third of households are rented and the other two-thirds are owned or in the process. This is based on 2022 data from the American Community Survey. However, the difference between renting and owning changes with age.

Rent to Own

Most people rent in their younger years and then comes the flip at 33 years old, using the age of the householder as the point of reference.

There’s a difference between owning free and clear and owning with a mortgage though. The data provides more detail for four categories.
 

Rent, Mortgage, or Nothing

Renting peaks in our early 20s, and then we take on an oh-so fun mortgage to pay off over decades.

Most people pay off their mortgage by the time they reach old age, but there are still many who are still making payments. The chart below shows this more clearly focusing on only those who own.

Paying Mortgage in the Older Years

Out of those who do not rent.

The percentages for the youngest ages jump out in these charts. The above shows that around 50% of householders in their teenage years live a house that is free and clear. I suspect most of the teenagers answering the survey live with an older parent or guardian who was not available or not able participate in the survey. I’d have to look at the details though.

So using the age of the householder is not a perfect solution. The person answering is not always the one paying the bills. But the general trends seem to check out.

Notes

The data comes the 5-year American Community Survey for 2018-2022. I downloaded the data via IPUMS. I analyzed, processed, and visualized in R. Edited in Illustrator.