Black-White Homeownership-Rate-Gap Has Widened Since 1900

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The major metro area with the largest black/white homeownership gap is Minneapolis, where 75.1 percent of white households own their primary residence, compared to 23.9 percent of black households – for a gap of 51.1 percentage points. (African Americans in the Minneapolis area are more likely than African Americans elsewhere in the country to be recent immigrants — particularly from East Africa.)

The narrowest black/white homeownership gap among the largest 35 metro areas is Austin, Texas, where 64.1 percent of white households own their primary residence, compared to 42.5 percent of black households – for a gap of 21.6 percentage points.

In those major metros, the highest black homeownership rates are in Philadelphia (48.4 percent), Washington, D.C. (48.3 percent) and Miami (45 percent), Atlanta (44.7 percent) and Baltimore (44.6 percent).

The highest white homeownership rates are in Detroit (77.7 percent), Baltimore (76.4 percent) and St. Louis, Mo. (75.8 percent), Charlotte, N.C. (75.3 percent), Philadelphia and Minneapolis (tied at 75.1 percent).

The highest Asian homeownership rates are in Riverside, Calif. (70.3 percent), Washington, D.C. (68.7 percent), Orlando, Fla. (67.6 percent), Houston (67.3 percent) and Miami (66 percent).

The highest Hispanic homeownership rates are in Detroit (58 percent), San Antonio (57.2 percent), Riverside, Calif. (54.7 percent), St. Louis, Mo. (52.9 percent) and Kansas City, Mo. (52.1 percent).

Among more than 500 markets analyzed, only two had a greater share of black than white households owning their primary residences. One is Yuba City, Calif., where the black homeownership rate is 82.9 percent, compared to 56.9 percent for whites – a 26 percentage point gap with blacks owning more homes. The other is Tullahoma, Tenn., an area of just over 100,000 residents where 75.4 percent of black households and 70 percent of white ones own their homes – for a gap of 5.4 percentage points with blacks owning more homes.

There are myriad reasons for these homeownership gaps. We compiled some of those reasons for these three groups:

• African Americans and the Homeownership Divide
• Asians and the Homeownership Divide
• Hispanics and the Homeownership Divide

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Editor’s Note: April 11, 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing of the landmark Fair Housing Act, which now prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and/or disability. The housing market has changed a great deal since then, as have social and cultural attitudes toward race and discrimination — but while a lot has improved, there is still much progress to be made toward ensuring true equality in housing. Zillow Research will be examining this topic throughout April in honor of Fair Housing Month, and we invite you to read all of our related research and analysis here.