2012

HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS U.S. CITIES OVER 500,000 PERSONS 1

Table 1
Rank of U.S. Cities Over 500,000 Persons by Percent of Housing in Multi-unit Structures in 20121
Rank

City

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34

New York (city), NY

Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
San Francisco, CA
Washington, DC
Los Angeles, CA
Milwaukee, WI
Dallas, TX
Seattle, WA
Houston, TX
Austin, TX
Denver, CO
San Diego, CA
Columbus, OH
Nashville - Davidson Metro, TN
Portland, OR
Charlotte, NC
Memphis, TN
Las Vegas, NV
Tucson, AZ
Philadelphia, PA
Fresno, CA
San Jose, CA
Baltimore, MD
Phoenix, AZ
San Antonio, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Jacksonville, FL
Albuquerque, NM
Louisville-Jefferson County, KY
Fort Worth, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
El Paso, TX
Detroit, MI

Housing in MultiUnit Structures

83.7%
81.9%
70.9%
67.8%
63.3%
55.2%
50.8%
50.6%
50.4%
48.7%
47.5%
46.1%
45.4%
42.9%
38.4%
38.2%
36.4%
34.2%
34.1%
34.1%
34.0%
33.9%
32.9%
32.3%
31.9%
31.1%
30.6%
30.3%
29.3%
29.0%
27.5%
27.0%
25.7%
25.5%

Population
8,300,000
638,000
2,700,000
826,000
632,000
3,900,000
599,000
1,200,000
635,000
2,200,000
843,000
634,000
1,300,000
810,000
623,000
604,000
775,000
655,000
596,000
524,000
1,500,000
506,000
983,000
621,000
1,500,000
1,400,000
836,000
837,000
555,000
605,000
782,000
599,000
673,000
702,000

Housing
Units
3,400,000
270,000
1,200,000
377,000
300,000
1,400,000
257,000
525,000
310,000
911,000
361,000
288,000
513,000
381,000
277,000
265,000
327,000
297,000
251,000
231,000
668,000
175,000
321,000
296,000
597,000
534,000
382,000
368,000
241,000
272,000
296,000
260,000
235,000
367,000

Occupied
Housing

Average
HH Size

3,100,000
247,000
1,000,000
347,000
267,000
1,300,000
231,000
464,000
290,000
780,000
331,000
270,000
474,000
330,000
249,000
249,000
296,000
247,000
217,000
203,000
580,000
162,000
310,000
244,000
522,000
481,000
330,000
309,000
224,000
246,000
269,000
229,000
220,000
253,000

2.6
2.4
2.6
2.3
2.2
2.8
2.5
2.6
2.1
2.7
2.5
2.3
2.7
2.4
2.4
2.4
2.6
2.6
2.7
2.5
2.6
3.1
3.1
2.4
2.8
2.8
2.5
2.7
2.5
2.4
2.9
2.6
3.0
2.7

Vacancy
Rate
9.0%
9.0%
13.0%
8.0%
11.0%
7.0%
10.0%
12.0%
6.0%
14.0%
8.0%
6.0%
8.0%
14.0%
10.0%
6.0%
10.0%
17.0%
14.0%
12.0%
13.0%
8.0%
3.0%
18.0%
13.0%
10.0%
14.0%
16.0%
7.0%
10.0%
9.0%
12.0%
7.0%
31.0%

1 Data pulled from U.S. Census Bureaus NP01, Population and Housing Narrative Profile: 2012, dataset

Written by: J. Otavio Thompson

Date: November 30, 2013

I thought it would be useful to rank cities with populations of at least 500,000 persons by percent of housing in multi-unit structures.
New York City had the largest percentage of housing units in multi-unit structures (i.e. apartment buildings, etc.) at 83.7%, while
Detroit had the lowest percentage of its housing units in multi-unit structures at 25.7%.
The mean (average) of housing in multi-unit structures across the 34 U.S. cities with populations over 500,000 persons was 42.4%
The average household size of this 34-city dataset was 2.6 people per household.
The average housing vacancy rate of this 34-city dataset is 11%, with Detroit registering the highest housing vacancy rate of 31% and
San Jose, California registering the lowest housing vacancy rate of 3%.

Figure 1. Histogram with distribution curve of cities over 500,000 persons by percent of housing in multi-unit structures.

Written by: J. Otavio Thompson

Date: November 30, 2013