- Single people have more difficulty affording a house than married people.
- That’s because couples often have a larger financial cushion with joint incomes.
- Here are the top real-estate markets for single men and women.
The benefits of marriage aren’t just limited to tax advantages. It’s easier for married people to buy a house, too. According to Redfin, nearly 70% of single people struggle to afford rent or mortgage payments. For married couples, that number is significantly lower, at 52%.
Just because you’re single doesn’t mean you’re alone in experiencing this struggle. A growing number of Americans are in the same boat. Rising housing costs have resulted in rent or mortgage payments eating away at Americans’ budgets. For married people, having two incomes gives them a leg up in the housing market, but single people have to shoulder the burden of rising living costs by themselves.
However, there’s no need for single people to panic — some states are easier than others for solo buyers to get their foot in the door.
Online loan marketplace LendingTree analyzed US Census Bureau data and found the states with the highest levels of homeownership for single men and women. Single women, in particular, might have an advantage in the housing market, as LendingTree found that they owned 11.1 million homes nationwide, compared to 8.4 million for single men. That means in the US, single women and men own 13% and 9.8% of owner-occupied homes, respectively.
Regardless of gender, the top housing markets for single men and women are typically in states with low population density and economies driven by a combination of energy, manufacturing, and various natural resources. New Mexico is the top state for single women homeownership. For men, it’s North Dakota.
Tanner Schock, a real-estate agent from Minot, North Dakota, believes that a combination of cheap housing costs and job opportunities make the state particularly attractive to homebuyers.
North Dakota’s cost of living is almost 9% lower than the national average, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
“Out west, we have oil fields, and a lot of people actually come from out of state to North Dakota to work in the oil and gas industry,” Schock told BI. “In the Minot area, we have an Air Force base as well.”
These industries tend to have a higher proportion of men relative to women, which could explain why male homeownership is high in the state, Schock said.
Nationwide, one explanation for the higher number of single women homeowners could be due to women’s earnings catching up to men’s, according to LendingTree. Another factor could be that since women typically live longer than men, there could be a higher proportion of women who became single homeowners after their spouse died, LendingTree said.
Listed below are the top three housing markets for single women and men homeownership and the median home price for each, according to Redfin. For context, the median home price across the US is $427,670.
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