About this tool
This dashboard estimates how many already-built homes would be freed if more U.S. adults lived in married or partnered arrangements, as they did in past decades. Estimates are available for every state and for metro areas. It helps readers see how a return to earlier marriage levels could ease pressure on housing supply in their area.
- Shows
- Estimates of the number of existing homes that would be freed if the share of working-age adults living as partners returned to a past benchmark level, shown for each state and for metro areas and rest-of-state areas, with lower, middle and upper estimates.
- Places
- States, Metro areas
Questions it answers
- How many existing homes would be freed in my metro area if more adults were married or partnered?
- Which states would see the largest gain in available homes from a return to past marriage levels?
- How do the lower, middle and upper estimates differ for my state?
- How does the potential for freed homes in my metro compare with the rest of my state?
- How much of the housing shortage in my area could a marriage recovery offset?
Limits
- The figures are hypothetical scenarios, not forecasts: they describe what would happen if the partnered share returned to a past level, which has not happened.
- Estimates are built from the 2024 one-year American Community Survey and compare against past partnered shares, so they are estimates rather than exact counts.
- Metro results cover metropolitan areas plus a rest-of-state area for each state; state results are provided for comparison.