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    Cities Whose Residents Have Been in Their Homes the Longest

    Cities Whose Residents Have Been in Their Homes the Longest

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    By David Heacock

    Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic observers—and many frustrated aspiring homebuyers—have commented extensively on the extremely competitive market for housing. For many middle class households, savings rates increased while much of the economy was shut down last year, while federal stimulus has enabled strong stock market returns and low mortgage interest rates. These factors have brought a flood of people into the real estate market looking to buy or upgrade their homes.

    Unfortunately for these would-be buyers, the market has not seen a commensurate increase in inventory, as available housing stock reached record lows earlier in the pandemic. Living space took on new value during the pandemic, and the prospect of looking for a new home in such a competitive market discouraged many would-be sellers. As a result, many homeowners elected to stay put even with such a strong sellers’ market. The result has been record-low inventories and record-high prices for the homes that do make it to sale.

    Beyond the unusual pandemic-era real estate conditions, however, one of the key factors that has led to the current market is a generational shift in home-buying. Baby Boomers were until recently the largest generation of Americans, and most Boomers hit prime home-buying age beginning in the late 1970s and continued to be the largest part of the market for several decades after that. Because many Boomers have elected to age in place rather than downsize, 13.5 million homeowners, or 17% of the total, have been in their current home for at least 30 years. This is creating challenges for the Millennial generation—now the largest by population—many of whom are looking to purchase their first or second home.

    A view of a chart showing 17% of U.S. homeowners lived in their homes 30+ years.

    Some regions are seeing this phenomenon more than others. Hawaii leads the nation in long-term homeownership at 26.4% of homeowners having lived in their homes for 30 years or more. Many of the other top states are found in the Northeast in places like Pennsylvania (24.4%), New York (23.9%), and Rhode Island (23.3%). These states tend to have older, more stationary populations, along with higher housing costs or difficulties in developing new stock. These factors encourage homeowners to hold onto properties they have paid off entirely or where their housing costs are locked in at a lower level than they would face in the current market. At the other end of the spectrum, growing states like Nevada (5.9%), Arizona (8.9%), and Florida (10.5%) have the lowest share of long-term owners, with new residents moving in and taking advantage of a rapidly growing stock of housing.

    U.S. map showing highest share of homeowners in homes 30+ years in Hawaii and Northeast, based on Census Bureau data.

    Many of the same forces are at play in the list of metros where residents have been in their homes the longest, as the list is dominated by locations where housing costs are high, the population is older, or both. To identify these locations, researchers at Filterbuy used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to calculate the share of owners who moved in 30 years ago or more. In the event of a tie, the location with the higher share of owners who moved in 20–29 years ago was ranked higher.

    Here are the metros whose residents have been in their homes the longest.

    Chart listing U.S. small and midsize metros where residents have lived in their homes 30+ years, led by Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH and Scranton, PA.

    Large Metros Whose Residents Have Been in Their Homes the Longest

    Aerial view of downtown San Jose, California with modern apartments, city skyline, and distant mountain range at sunset.

    Photo Credit: Uladzik Kryhin / Shutterstock

    15. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

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    Upward view of metal fire escape on historic brick apartment building in urban cityscape.

    Photo Credit: Concrete Jungle Media / Shutterstock

    14. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI

    Downtown Milwaukee Riverwalk at sunset with historic buildings, street lamps, and calm water reflections.

    Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock

    13. Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI

    Snow-covered Acorn Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill with historic brick row houses decorated for winter.

    Photo Credit: CO Leong / Shutterstock

    12. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

    Iconic Painted Ladies Victorian homes with San Francisco skyline and Transamerica Pyramid at sunset.

    Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock

    11. San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA

    Griffith Observatory overlooking Los Angeles skyline on a clear day in Southern California.

    Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock

    10. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

    A view of Bourbon Street in New Orleans at dusk with colorful lights, historic French Quarter architecture, and the city skyline in the background.

    Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock

    9. New Orleans-Metairie, LA

    Image of Independence Hall in Philadelphia at twilight with the George Washington statue and autumn foliage in the foreground.

    Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock

    8. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

    Historic brownstone row houses with stoops and decorative lion statues in Greenwich Village, New York City.

    Photo Credit: Brian Goodman / Shutterstock

    7. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA

    Downtown Hartford, Connecticut skyline with historic architecture, modern buildings, and lush green trees under a blue sky.

    Photo Credit: Jon Bilous / Shutterstock

    6. Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT

    A view of the historic Sodus Bay Lighthouse and keeper’s house in upstate New York, surrounded by greenery and overlooking Lake Ontario.

    Photo Credit: Lucky-photographer / Shutterstock

    5. Rochester, NY

    Image of downtown Cleveland office buildings at night with illuminated street lights and the Key Tower in the background.

    Photo Credit: Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock

    4. Cleveland-Elyria, OH

    Statue overlooking downtown Providence, Rhode Island with historic architecture, city skyline, and lush summer greenery.

    Photo Credit: Richard Cavalleri / Shutterstock

    3. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

    Image of downtown Buffalo, New York featuring historic buildings, modern offices, and light rail tracks under a clear blue sky.

    Photo Credit: Sergey Novikov / Shutterstock

    2. Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY

    A view of Pittsburgh from the Duquesne Incline at sunrise, overlooking the city skyline, river bridges, and snow-covered hillside.

    Photo Credit: Jason Sponseller / Shutterstock

    1. Pittsburgh, PA

    Detailed Findings & Methodology

    The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2019. To determine the locations whose residents have been in their homes the longest, researchers calculated the share of owners who moved in 30 years ago or more. In the event of a tie, the location with the higher share of owners who moved in 20–29 years ago was ranked higher. To improve relevance, only metropolitan areas with at least 100,000 residents were included. Additionally, metros were grouped into cohorts based on population size: small (100,000–349,999), midsize (350,000–999,999), and large (1,000,000 or more).