Cities with the Most Renters
Published May 26, 2020
Reading time: 5 minutes
Published May 26, 2020
Reading time: 5 minutes
From Atlanta to Yonkers, all of America’s cities are home to both renters and homeowners. Some, however, are home to significantly more renters than the rest.
Homeownership rates in America have fallen by two percent since 2000, according to the U.S. Census and American Community Survey. Young Americans are the primary cause of falling homeownership rates. In fact, homeownership rates dropped six percent among Americans aged 20-34 in the same time period. Rather than purchasing a home, a growing number have opted to continue renting rather than purchase a ‘starter home’ either by choice or out of financial necessity.
More and more young people with an undergraduate degree or higher have left suburban or rural areas to work in cities. The population of major cities like Boston or Miami, for example, has increased by twelve and seventeen percent since 2010, respectively. This growth skews disproportionately toward residents over age 25 with a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree. This influx of educated and financially successful residents leads to rising real estate prices in America’s largest metropolitan areas. As a result, renting becomes the more desirable—or only—option for many. In fact, a recent Pew Research Center survey on American renters reports that 72 percent of renters would like to purchase a home at some point, while 65 percent currently rent as a result of circumstances. Many rent for financial reasons, instead of by choice.
To identify the top twenty cities with the highest share of renters, the data science and research team at Insurify referred to statistics published by City-Data.
Population density and rates of renters. Given research demonstrating a correlation between population density and higher real estate prices relative to median household income, it stands to reason that the cities with the most renters would also be some of the most densely populated metropolitan areas in the United States. In fact, nine out of the twenty cities with the most renters rank within the top 60 most densely populated, including New York City, San Francisco, and Miami.
Regional differences. The twenty cities with the highest proportion of renters are located on both coasts and in the south, while cities from the Mountain States are absent, and only one hails from the Midwest.
Cities with the fewest renters. On the other side of the spectrum are cities with the lowest proportion of renters. Centennial CO, North Hempstead NY, and Broken Arrow, OK have the lowest proportion of renters, who make up only 19.7, 23.3, and 23.8 percent of the population, respectively.
1. New Haven, Connecticut - Percentage of renters: 71.4
2. Brooklyn, New York - Percentage of renters: 70.4
3. Miami, Florida - Percentage of renters: 68.7
4. New York, New York -Percentage of renters: 68.0
5. College Station, Texas - Percentage of renters: 67.1
6. Boston, Massachusetts - Percentage of renters: 66.4
7. Glendale, California - Percentage of renters: 65.9
8. Providence, Rhode Island - Percentage of renters: 64.5
9. Orlando, Florida - Percentage of renters: 64.3
10. Inglewood, California - Percentage of renters: 64.3
The data and research team at Insurify, a site used to compare home insurance, referred to the latest location-based homeownership statistics released by City-Data. From these statistics, they identified the cities with the lowest proportion of homes occupied by owners, which, consequently, have the highest proportion of renters given that homes unoccupied by their owners are invariably rented out.
Data from the American Community Survey by the United States Census Bureau was used to determine the population of each city in the rankings. For each of the twenty cities in this ranking, researchers at Insurify calculated the approximate number of renters in each city, based on this data and on the percentage of renters in each city.
Percentage of renters: 62.0
City population: 297,517
Approximate population of renters: 184,461
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Percentage of renters: 62.1
City population: 210,358
Approximate population of renters: 130,632
Percentage of renters: 62.2
City population: 119,980
Approximate population of renters: 74,628
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Percentage of renters: 62.4
City population: 102,211
Approximate population of renters: 63,780
Percentage of renters: 63.4
City population: 115,708
Approximate population of renters: 73,359
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Percentage of renters: 63.8
City population: 127,488
Approximate population of renters: 81,337
Percentage of renters: 63.9
City population: 107,289
Approximate population of renters: 68,558
Percentage of renters: 64.1
City population: 837,442
Approximate population of renters: 536,800
Percentage of renters: 64.1
City population: 3,884,307
Approximate population of renters: 2,489,841
Percentage of renters: 64.1
City population: 228,653
Approximate population of renters: 146,567
Percentage of renters: 64.3
City population: 111,542
Approximate population of renters: 71,722
Percentage of renters: 64.3
City population: 255,483
Approximate population of renters: 164,276
Percentage of renters: 64.5
City population: 177,994
Approximate population of renters: 114,806
Percentage of renters: 65.9
City population: 196,021
Approximate population of renters: 129,178
Percentage of renters: 66.4
City population: 645,966
Approximate population of renters: 428,921
Percentage of renters: 67.1
City population: 100,050
Approximate population of renters: 67,134
Percentage of renters: 68.0
City population: 8,405,837
Approximate population of renters: 5,715,969
Percentage of renters: 68.7
City population: 417,650
Approximate population of renters: 286,864
Percentage of renters: 70.4
City population: 2,538,705
Approximate population of renters: 1,787,248
Percentage of renters: 71.4
City population: 130,660
Approximate population of renters: 93,291
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Data & Research Team
Insurify’s team of data scientists and content specialists presents Insurify Insights, a series of automotive, home, and health studies focusing on the topics that impact us all. Through expert analysis of over 4 million car insurance applications and an array of top data sources, the Insurify Insights team produces new data-driven articles, trend analyses, regional superlatives, and national rankings every week. See Insurify Insights as featured in Forbes, Fox News, USA Today, NPR, and more.
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