In 2018, the average home size in the United States was 6,295 square feet, and the size of the average home is set to fall to 6,121 square feet by 2023.

In 2023, the average size of a single-family home built for sale in the United States amounted to 2,514 square feet. Although in the past five years American homes have been shrinking, since 1975, they have almost doubled in size. This trend towards larger homes seems illogical given that the average size of families has shrunk over the same period. Why are American homes so large? Homes in the U.S. are among the largest in the world, only surpassed by Australia. There are thought to be several reasons for this, including the concentration of wealth in the country, and the deeply engrained driving culture which means that cheaper land outside city centers is easily accessible. Where are the largest homes located? The size of homes also varies regionally, with the largest homes being located in wealthy, urban areas and in the South. Large homes, or McMansions as they’re often called, are especially popular in Texas. In 2023, Milwaukee and Omaha had the largest average home size.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Listing Price per Square Feet in the United States (MEDLISPRIPERSQUFEEUS) from Jul 2016 to Feb 2025 about square feet, listing, median, price, and USA.

Key information about House Prices Growth

• US house prices grew 5.2% YoY in Sep 2024, following an increase of 6.2% YoY in the previous quarter.
• YoY growth data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1992 to Sep 2024, with an average growth rate of 5.5%.
• House price data reached an all-time high of 17.7% in Sep 2021 and a record low of -12.4% in Dec 2008.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Days on Market in the United States (MEDDAYONMARUS) from Jul 2016 to Feb 2025 about median and USA.

The average American household consisted of 2.51 people in 2023.

Households in the U.S.

As shown in the statistic, the number of people per household has decreased over the past decades.

The U.S. Census Bureau defines a household as follows: “a household includes all the persons who occupy a housing unit as their usual place of residence. A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant, is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from outside the building or through a common hall. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated persons who share living arrangements. (People not living in households are classified as living in group quarters.).”

The population of the United States has been growing steadily for decades. Since 1960, the number of households more than doubled from 53 million to over 131 million households in 2023.

Most of these households, about 34 percent, are two-person households. The distribution of U.S. households has changed over the years though. The percentage of single-person households has been on the rise since 1970 and made up the second largest proportion of households in the U.S. in 2022, at 28.88 percent.

In concordance with the rise of single-person households, the percentage of family households with own children living in the household has declined since 1970 from 56 percent to 40.26 percent in 2022.

House Price Index YoY in the United States remained unchanged at 4.80 percent in January. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States FHFA House Price Index YoY.

In 2023, the median size of a multifamily housing unit in the United States was 1,006 square feet. Multifamily housing units include apartment complexes, condominiums, duplexes, and lofts. Single family housing units are typically more than double the size of multifamily units.

The average price per square foot of floor space in new single-family houses in North-east, United States increased from 2000 to 2021. In 2021, the average price for a new single-family house in that region was approximately 186 U.S. dollars per square foot of floor space.

Graph and download economic data for Real Residential Property Prices for United States (QUSR628BIS) from Q1 1970 to Q3 2024 about residential, HPI, housing, real, price index, indexes, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Median Sales Price for New Houses Sold in the United States (MSPNHSUSA) from 1963 to 2024 about new, sales, median, housing, price, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the West Census Region (MSPW) from Q1 1963 to Q4 2024 about West Census Region, sales, median, housing, and USA.

The U.S. multifamily vacancy rate increased slightly in 2023, after reaching one of the lowest levels on record in 2022. Approximately 6.6 percent of multifamily homes were vacant in the fourth quarter of 2023. Despite the increase, this figure was notably lower than the long-term historical average. U.S. multifamily housing sector Multifamily housing, refers to a housing type where multiple apartments are contained within one housing unit, or when several buildings form a larger complex. Construction of such houses has been on the rise, as the industry struggles to meet housing demand. The average size of such a housing unit was 1,046 square feet. Popularity among investors Multifamily housing accounted for almost 15 percent of the housing stock in the United States in 2021. This type of real estate is popular among investors because it tends to generate a steady cash flow, and be easy to obtain financing for.

In 2018, the average detached single-family home size in the United States was 2,587 square feet, and the size of the average home is set to reach 2,647 square feet by 2023.

Graph and download economic data for Housing Inventory: Median Home Size in Square Feet in Massachusetts (MEDSQUFEEMA) from Jul 2016 to Feb 2025 about MA, square feet, median, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Median Number of Months on Sales Market for Newly Completed Homes (MNMFS) from Jan 1975 to Feb 2025 about sales, median, housing, and USA.

Cap rates in the U.S. multifamily real estate sector have increased significantly since 2021, reflecting a rise in borrowing costs. In 2023, the average multifamily cap rate was 5.96 percent, up 3.82 percent in 2021, when it was at its low. By 2026, the average multifamily cap rate is forecast to decline slightly, to 5.31 percent.

When a resident vacates a rental property, property managers incur in turnover costs such as lost rent during the vacancy period, concessions, unit repair costs, and advertising and marketing costs. According to a survey among multifamily property managers in the United States, on average, companies faced almost 4,000 U.S. dollars per property vacated in 2023, with the lost rental income being the biggest cost driver.

This statistic shows the average property price in the United States in 2011, by property type. Damaged REOs cost an average of 102,149 U.S. dollars in the U.S. that year. The abbreviation REO stands for real estate owned properties.

The average single-family house in the United States has overall increased in size since 2000. It reached its peak of 2,467 square feet in 2015 before falling to 2,299 square feet by 2022. Single-family house A single family home is defined as a dwelling designed to house a single family only. This means there are no common walls with other dwellings, the house has been built on its own parcel of land, and that it has its own private entry and exit to a street or thoroughfare. This definition excludes apartments, which are significantly smaller, and have actually been reducing in size over the same time period. Housing in the U.S. In 2022, there were over 85 million owner-occupied and 44 million renter occupied housing units in the United States. Single-family homes are by far the most common type of residential property purchased in the United States.