The Changing Profile of Renter vs. Owner Households
May 24,
2019 by Laurie Northington in General 
For many in pursuit of homeownership and those already there, the Great Recession forced the American tradition of owning a home aside and renting became the viable alternative. Now safely out of the recession, many renters are choosing to stay put or better yet, keep the freedom to move. This is the first factoid in a series of five factoids, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey, to explore the changing profiles of owners and renters.
Renter-occupied housing is at its highest level in almost 50 years (36.2 percent of households) and up 9.3 percent 2010 to 2017. This compares to owner-occupied housing only increasing by 2.4 percent.
According to an October 2018 survey from Freddie Mac, 78 percent of renters believe renting is more affordable than owning. Across all generations, reasons for renting include housing shortages, rising home prices, remaining fear after the market crash, ability to pick up and move and a desire to live closer to work.
Comparing the change in number of owner-occupied units to renter-occupied units over seven years, renter households went from 34.6 percent of total housing units to 36.1 percent - increasing 3.7 million units from 39.7 million to 43.4 million households.