Homeowners by Age Range, Move In Date, Education Level, and Race/Ethnicity as of 2022, by Census Tract.

The home ownership market is an important way to gauge the momentum of a place, and know where demographics are concentrated. Tenure in one place, regardless of home ownership or renting, is an important corollary to quality of life. A higher rate of rentals over homeownership can also indicate the momentum of a neighborhood, or institution in the area.

Age

Home ownership (for Owner) exhibits a Bell curve among age groupings from 35 to 75, with 55- to 64-year-olds showing the highest ownership rates at 24.2%. Home rental is majority (31.13%) among those aged 35 or less in 2022. The percentage of renters decreased as the age of individuals increased, indicating a trend where older age groups were more likely to own homes rather than rent

Educational Attainment

n Erie, the majority of both homeowners and renters have a high school diploma or equivalent as their highest level of educational attainment. The percentage of homeowners with a bachelor's degree or higher is only slightly lower, by 0.34%, compared to those with a high school education. Individuals with less than a high school diploma represent the lowest percentages for both homeownership (5.95%) and renting (10.06%).

Move-In Date

The majority of homeowners (22.85%) moved into their current residence between 2000 and 2009, whereas the majority of renters (40.03%) moved into their current rental between 2010 and 2017. Additionally, the percentage of renters who moved in 2021 or later (5.46%) is significantly lower compared to those who moved between 2018 and 2020 (33.91%).

Race

Due to the racial breakdown of Erie County, the majority of both home owners and renters are White, within that category 88.45% of home owners are White, while 79.20% of renters are White. The race/ethnicity group with the lowest percentage of homeownership is American Indian and Alaska Native, accounting for just 0.05% of homeowners.

EVS analyzes the data in each topic category using indicators, which report a targeted and digestible number, rate, or amount to represent Erie County as a whole. While this does not cover every aspect of the topic, it assists in establishing Erie's performance relative to the prior year(s). The indicators for the Community: Home Ownership topic are:

This indicator measures the percentage of all occupied housing units (not vacant) that are owner-occupied (not rented). The trend for Home Ownership was up and better in 2022, rising by +0.61% within the County. A home is a vital financial asset for a family and an investment for both the local neighborhood and surrounding community, and as such this increase represents positive growth.

Data from the U.S. Census ACS as of 09/2024.