Single women in the United States are now outpacing their male counterparts when it comes to owning homes, a new study found.
A recent study from online lending marketplace LendingTree found that single women in the US own 2.71 million more homes than single men. In percentage, single women own 12.93% of owner-occupied homes across the country compared to 10.22% among single men.
Among all 50 U.S. states, Delaware, Louisiana, and Mississippi had the highest shares of single women homeowners. In contrast, Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota are the only places where single men own a larger share of homes than their female counterparts.
Additionally, Delaware had the widest gender gap in homeownership rates between single homeowners, with women owning 15.34% of households while men only owned 9.45%.
Despite a wide gap overall, homeownership opportunities are still not equal among groups. At least 62% of non-Hispanic white women who are single and lived alone owned a home in 2021, compared to 39% of Latinas and 37% of non-Hispanic Black women in similar circumstances. The numbers go up slightly to 52% among Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women.
"Going into the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recession, we already had a lot of housing insecurity for Black women and Latinas that was just compounded and, unfortunately, their recovery has been far from equitable," Sarah Hassmer, director of housing justice for the NWLC, said, as quoted by Axios.
Apart from groups, homeownership rates are also lower among single women with children compared to single men with children, per an analysis by the National Women's Law Center (NWLC).
Various Factors Contributing To Higher Homeownership Rates Among Women
Despite owning more homes than men, the study noted that single women still earn less money than their male counterparts. On average, women earn just 82 cents for every dollar men earn doing the same work, according to a study from the Pew Research Center.
The study noted that the gap in homeownership may be due to single women being more willing than single men to make sacrifices to buy a home. The study also noted that women typically live longer than men, making it likely that some women who are now single homeowners bought their homes with the spouses they outlived.
