Housing Production by Personal Income

The HBGI is featuring for Q3 2023 a breakdown of the housing market based on personal income within counties. Using Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates of county-level personal income per capita, counties grouped into quintiles:

• High-income counties are where the personal income per capita is >$62,212.
• High-middle-income counties: $53,772 – $62,212
• Middle-income counties: $48,160 – $53,771
• The middle-low-income counties: $43,534 – $48,159
• The low-income counties: <$43,533

The highest income areas are frequently near larger cities and along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The lowest income counties tend to be concentrated in the southeastern portion of the US.

Key Findings

10 highest income per capita Counties in the US, Per BEA 2022 Estimates

10 Lowest income per Capita Counties in the US, Per BEA 2022 Estimates

• A majority of single-family homes are built in areas in the highest quintile of personal income, where per capita incomes are greater than $62,212. The market share for these counties is right around 40.8% as of the third quarter of 2023. This share has fallen by 4.2 percentage points from Q3 of 2018.
• The middle-high-income quintile made up approximately 24.5% of the single-family market in Q3 of 2023. This share has remained relatively constant around a quarter of the market since 2018 but is currently 1.5% lower than in Q3 of 2018.
• Middle-income quintile has increased market share since 2014, rising from 15.8% in Q4 of 2014 to 17.8% in the Q3 of 2023
• Middle-low-income quintile market share has also increase around 2 percentage points over the past five years, rising from 9.5% in Q3 of 2018 to 11.5% in Q3 of 2023.
• For the low-income quintile, the market share in the single-family home building sector has increased 1.6 percentage points to 5.4% in Q3 of 2023.
• Multifamily building follows a similar story with the high-income quintile, having a majority share of building:
  • As of Q3 2023, 61.0% of all multifamily building was in counties that were in the highest income quintile. Despite having the largest share of any income quintile, the market share for high-income areas has fallen 4.8% percentage points over the past five years.
  • For middle-high-income counties, the 2023 Q3 market share was at 21.6%, up 1.1 percentage point from Q3 of 2018.
  • Middle-income counties, the 2023 Q3 market share was 9.7%, up 2.2 percentage points, the largest increase of multifamily market share for any quintile.
  • Middle-low-income counties, the 2023 Q3 market share was 3.9%, up 0.1 percentage point over the past five years.
  • Low-income counties, the 2023 Q3 market share was 3.8%, up 1.3 percentage points from Q3 2018.

For more details, view this Eye On Housing article.