Age may just be a number, but when it comes to the age of a home, it can be an indicator of its style, features, or condition. It can even help tell a story about where it’s located. Home construction, especially in modern building, comes in waves in areas with new developments springing up as a city grows.
With this in mind, we conducted a study looking at the median age of homes across the United States. We analyzed U.S. census data on a state, county, and city level. Check out our findings below.
Main Findings
New York came in as the state with the oldest median home age in the U.S. at 63 years. Rhode Island was a few years younger at 60, followed closely by Massachusetts (59), Pennsylvania (57), and Connecticut (55). No surprise that the five states with the oldest median home age are all located in the northeast as they had some of the largest growth in early America.
At the other end of the spectrum, the five states with the youngest median home age are Nevada (26), Arizona (30), Utah (31), Georgia (31), and North Carolina and South Carolina tied at 32 years old. Nevada has been the fastest-growing state for roughly five decades so it follows that the homes would be the newest. Likewise, the other ‘youngest’ states have seen large population increases and housing being built to satisfy the demand.
Next, we narrowed the data down to a county-by-county look in the interactive map below. You can hover over each county to view the data or use the search function on the upper-left side by typing in the county’s name.
The county with the oldest median home age in the U.S. is Clay County, Kansas. The county’s median year of structure build is 1941, bringing the county’s median home age to 79 years. The Sunshine State of Florida holds the ‘youngest’ county in the country, with Sumter County, Florida having a median home age of 17 years.
Finally, we analyzed the data by town and city. Below is a table with the three towns or cities with the oldest median home ages and the three with the newest, grouped by state.
Median Home Age by City and State
The above table has the 25 ‘youngest’ towns in America, based on the median age of the homes. Fulshear, Texas comes in at the top spot with a median age of just seven years. All of the towns on this list have a median home age between seven and 13.
The median age of homes in an area can be indicative of several things: styles, characteristics, and growth. While the age may not always be telling, an overall picture of the median home age of an area can allow people to see trends in home construction of population increase. The above study has that data grouped by state, county, and city.
While home age is an important factor in home value, there are many other factors that influence the cost of a home. If you want to increase your home’s value by doing some home renovation, consider installing highly rated gutter guards, updating your home appliances, and prioritizing landscaping.
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