Fun Housing Facts

Fun Housing Facts

The United States Census Bureau recently released some fun facts related to housing across the country, based on data for 2010. Here are just a few highlights from the release that you may find interesting…and may want to pass on to others.

Heating Our Homes

• 57 million = Number of houses heated by utility gas.
• 2.2 million = Number of houses heated by wood.
• 38,010 = Number of houses heated by solar energy.

From Home to Work

• 25.3 minutes = Average time workers across the country spent getting from home to work.
• 31.8 minutes = Longest commute time in the nation, which belonged to Maryland residents.
• 16.1 minutes = Shortest commute time in the nation, which belonged to North Dakota residents.

Home Sweet Home

• 2,392 square feet = Average size of a single-family house built in 2010. That number was down      a little from 2,438 square feet in 2009.
• 131.7 million = Number of housing units counted in the 2010 Census. Compare that to 37.2 million in the first housing census, which was conducted in 1940!

Bonus Fact!

The first housing census in 1940 featured 31 housing questions - including some we may find odd today, such as whether the house had a radio…toilets or an outhouse…electric lighting…and running water.

Conversely, the 2010 census only included two housing questions: (1) whether the home was owned or rented and (2) whether the respondent sometimes lived or stayed somewhere else. The number of housing questions in the census has dropped because we now ask a number of housing questions in the American Community Survey, which is sent to about 3 million households nationwide every year.

Over the years, housing has really changed. But regardless of the time or location, one thing remains the same…there's no place like home!