America's housing story is always changing, not just through market forces, but also through people's choices. Over the past decade, the nation has added about 10.7 million single-family homes. However, the number of single-family rentals has declined, from 15.2 million to 14.4 million. As a result, the share of single-family homes being rented has fallen from roughly one in five to about one in six. This shows that while America continues to build homes and add households, a smaller share of those homes end up in the rental market. This is because many landlords have sold to owner-occupants, and the surge of apartment buildings being built has given renters more options elsewhere.

Where Renting a House Is Most Common

Renting a single-family home remains most common in some local markets, however. In Visalia and Modesto in California's Central Valley, College Station in Texas, and Bakersfield in Memphis, TN, more than one in four single-family homes is rented. The reason varies by area. In Bakersfield and Memphis, the housing stock is overwhelmingly made up of single-family homes, so renters end up in houses simply because that's what's available. In college towns like College Station, strong housing demand from students and newcomers keeps the single-family rental market outperforming even alongside plenty of apartment buildings.

Where the Share of Single-Family Rentals Is Rising

While most metro areas have seen their share of single-family rentals decline, a small group of markets is moving in the opposite direction. Among the 250 largest metros, only about 8% have a higher share of single-family rentals today than a decade ago. Recent data shows that Columbia, Missouri; Springfield, Massachusetts; New Haven, Connecticut; Yakima, Washington; and Norwich, Connecticut are among the areas with gains. 

What do they have in common? Even though these metros aren't Sun Belt boomtowns, they check some of the boxes that support that kind of growth: a steady flow of renters (students and military), relatively tight apartment markets, and a supply of older single-family houses that can be rented.

These patterns show that the geography of single-family rentals mirrors that of America's housing. In markets dominated by single-family homes, renting them is simply part of the composition of their housing stock. And, in fast-growing, more affordable metros, rising rental shares reflect sustained housing demand.