LendingTree has analyzed United States Census Bureau data from 2022 and found that single women are more likely to own a home than single men.
Across all homes in the United States, single women own 12.93 percent compared to single men who own 10.22 percent. The states with the highest proportion of single women-owned homes were Delaware, Louisiana, and Mississippi, with single women owning 15.34 percent, 15.19 percent, and 14.84 percent of homes respectively. The largest gaps between women and men’s home-ownership was seen in Delaware, Maryland, and Massachusetts, where single women own 5.89 percent, 5.21 percent, and 4.97 more homes than single men.
New Mexico has the larges share of single men-owned homes with 12.85 percent, however this proportion was less than single women’s home owning representation at 14.49 percent. Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota were the only states were single men outpaced single women in home ownership, with men’s homeownership 2.16 percentage points higher in Alaska, 2.08 percent more in North Dakota, and 0.68 percent more in South Dakota.
Since women have historically earned less money than men, the researchers suggest these findings may provide “evidence that single women are more willing than single men to make sacrifices to become homeowners.”
Despite these findings, the LendingTree report states “it’s important to note that single women owning more homes than single men doesn’t mean they’re better off financially. Moreover, while some may assume that higher homeownership rates are indicative that women are likely to disproportionately benefit from things like divorce, evidence doesn’t support this conclusion. On the contrary, women are more likely to face long-term economic struggles after a divorce than men. This highlights how much work is needed to address the economic imbalances among genders.”