Contents
- US housing age statistics: occupied homes by construction period in 2024
- US housing age statistics: pre-1950 homes by region, urban-rural status, and climate
- US housing age statistics by home type, stories, and exterior walls
- US housing age statistics for rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms
- US housing age statistics for basements, attics, garages, and insulation
- US housing age statistics for windows, winter comfort, and outages
- Sources
US housing age statistics: occupied homes by construction period in 2024
The Energy Information Administration’s 2024 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) reports construction periods for primary occupied housing units. Its U.S. total covers the 50 states and District of Columbia, and excludes vacant housing, seasonal units, second homes, military houses, and group quarters. The figures are in millions of housing units. They describe the survey’s 2024 housing stock, not the number of homes built during each period, and the source labels the 2024 characteristics tables preliminary. EIA Table HC2.3, structural and geographic characteristics of U.S. homes, 2024
| Construction period | Primary occupied units (million) |
|---|---|
| Before 1950 | 20.25 |
| 1950 to 1959 | 12.17 |
| 1960 to 1969 | 12.73 |
| 1970 to 1979 | 18.09 |
| 1980 to 1989 | 16.60 |
| 1990 to 1999 | 15.89 |
| 2000 to 2009 | 18.28 |
| 2010 to 2019 | 12.48 |
| 2020 to 2024 | 6.06 |
The table separates homes built before 1950 from decade groupings beginning in 1950, with the final interval covering 2020 to 2024. The largest listed period is before 1950, at 20.25 million units. Among the decade groups, 2000 to 2009 is 18.28 million and 1970 to 1979 is 18.09 million. These are counts of occupied units grouped by construction period; they do not measure the physical condition, renovation history, or energy performance of individual homes. The EIA notes that rounding may prevent sums from matching totals. EIA Table HC2.3; 2024 RECS Survey Data
US housing age statistics: pre-1950 homes by region, urban-rural status, and climate
The pre-1950 column gives a geographic view of 20.25 million primary occupied units in the 2024 table. By Census region, the Northeast records 7.22 million and the Midwest 6.07 million. The South records 3.69 million, while the West records 3.27 million. These are regional counts, not the share of each region’s housing stock built before 1950. EIA Table HC2.3
| Classification | Category | Pre-1950 primary occupied units (million) |
|---|---|---|
| Census region | Northeast | 7.22 |
| Census region | Midwest | 6.07 |
| Census region | South | 3.69 |
| Census region | West | 3.27 |
| Urban-rural | Urban | 16.97 |
| Urban-rural | Rural | 3.28 |
| Climate region | Very cold/Cold | 9.69 |
| Climate region | Mixed-humid | 6.76 |
| Climate region | Hot-humid | 1.18 |
The urban-rural classification uses 2020 Census categories. The table describes urban areas as densely settled cores of blocks with at least 2,000 housing units or a population of at least 5,000; areas outside those defined urban areas are rural. The 16.97 million urban figure and 3.28 million rural figure are counts under that classification.
Climate categories combine Building America climate regions. The source says Subarctic is included with Very cold/Cold. In the listed categories, Very cold/Cold has 9.69 million pre-1950 units, Mixed-humid has 6.76 million, and Hot-humid has 1.18 million. These categories provide climate context for the counts, but the figures do not establish why homes were built in particular places or how they perform today. EIA Table HC2.3
US housing age statistics by home type, stories, and exterior walls
The table’s pre-1950 counts span detached and attached houses, apartments, mobile homes, and structural characteristics. Single-family detached homes account for 13.26 million units in the pre-1950 column. The reported apartment counts are 2.50 million in buildings with 2–4 units and 3.07 million in buildings with 5 or more units. Single-family attached homes number 1.33 million, while mobile homes number 0.10 million. Each value describes a primary occupied unit in the stated category. EIA Table HC2.3
| Characteristic | Category | Pre-1950 primary occupied units (million) |
|---|---|---|
| Housing unit type | Single-family detached | 13.26 |
| Housing unit type | Single-family attached | 1.33 |
| Housing unit type | Apartment in a building with 2–4 units | 2.50 |
| Housing unit type | Apartment in a building with 5 or more units | 3.07 |
| Housing unit type | Mobile home | 0.10 |
| Number of stories | One story | 5.63 |
| Number of stories | Two stories | 8.28 |
| Number of stories | Three or more stories | 0.55 |
| Major outside wall construction | Siding (aluminum, fiber cement, vinyl, or steel) | 7.45 |
| Major outside wall construction | Brick | 5.88 |
Story counts show 8.28 million units with 2 stories, compared with 5.63 million with 1 story and 0.55 million with 3 or more stories. The table’s outside-wall categories include 7.45 million units with siding identified as aluminum, fiber cement, vinyl, or steel, and 5.88 million with brick. These are separate reported characteristics. The figures do not indicate that every home in a construction-period group shares the same form or exterior material. EIA Table HC2.3
US housing age statistics for rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms
For room counts, EIA defines the measure as total rooms excluding bathrooms. In the pre-1950 column, the count rises from 1.17 million units with 1 or 2 rooms to 1.67 million with 3 rooms, 2.27 million with 4 rooms, and 3.16 million with 5 rooms. The 6-room category has 3.68 million units. The broader categories shown are 3.14 million with 7 rooms, 2.44 million with 8 rooms, and 2.72 million with 9 or more rooms. EIA Table HC2.3
| Total rooms, excluding bathrooms | Pre-1950 primary occupied units (million) |
|---|---|
| 1 or 2 | 1.17 |
| 3 | 1.67 |
| 4 | 2.27 |
| 5 | 3.16 |
| 6 | 3.68 |
| 7 | 3.14 |
| 8 | 2.44 |
| 9 or more | 2.72 |
The room categories are counts of units assigned to each reported total, with the upper band combining 9 or more. Bathrooms are explicitly excluded from the room measure, so the table should not be read as a bathroom count or as the number of bedrooms. The separate bedroom measure includes a “None” category, which has 0.54 million pre-1950 units. That figure is reported for the bedroom classification and does not change the definition of total rooms above. EIA Table HC2.3
US housing age statistics for basements, attics, garages, and insulation
Among pre-1950 primary occupied units, 10.12 million are in the basement “Yes” row. The table separately reports 3.44 million with a finished basement and 6.68 million with an unfinished basement. The “No” basement row contains 4.46 million units. The finished and unfinished figures are presented as distinct table rows, while the yes/no response is a separate classification. EIA Table HC2.3
For attics, 10.02 million pre-1950 units are reported in the “Yes” row. The table also lists 2.55 million with a finished attic and 7.46 million with an unfinished attic. These counts describe reported attic categories; they do not identify whether an attic is used as living space or provide details about its condition.
The attached-garage “Yes” row contains 2.90 million units built before 1950. This is specifically the attached-garage response, so it should not be treated as a count of all garages, including detached structures. For insulation, 3.05 million units appear in the “Well insulated” row. That is a reported adequacy category in the EIA table; it is not a direct measurement of insulation thickness or a rating of the whole building envelope. EIA Table HC2.3
US housing age statistics for windows, winter comfort, and outages
The window measures show 8.76 million pre-1950 units in the single-pane glass row and 11.23 million in the double-pane glass row. For window frame material, the wood row contains 9.39 million units and the metal (aluminum) row contains 5.05 million. These are counts by reported window characteristic, not statements that every window in a unit has that characteristic. EIA Table HC2.3
| Reported characteristic | Category | Pre-1950 primary occupied units (million) |
|---|---|---|
| Type of glass in windows | Single-pane glass | 8.76 |
| Type of glass in windows | Double-pane glass | 11.23 |
| Window frame material | Wood | 9.39 |
| Window frame material | Metal (aluminum) | 5.05 |
| Winter draftiness | Never | 5.57 |
| Winter draftiness | Some of the time | 9.72 |
| Winter draftiness | Most of the time | 3.21 |
| Winter draftiness | All of the time | 1.75 |
| Power outage lasting at least 24 hours | Yes | 3.56 |
For the question “Home is too drafty during the winter,” the frequency rows report 5.57 million units at “Never,” 9.72 million at “Some of the time,” 3.21 million at “Most of the time,” and 1.75 million at “All of the time.” These are responses about reported winter draftiness. They do not measure indoor temperature, energy use, or the cause of drafts, and the table does not link an individual response to a particular window type.
The outage item counts households reporting an experienced power outage lasting at least 24 hours. The “Yes” row contains 3.56 million pre-1950 units. The measure is about whether such an outage was reported, not the number of outages, their timing, or their cause. The EIA marks some table values as withheld when relative standard error exceeded 50% or fewer than 10 households were in the reporting sample, and uses “N” when no households were in the sample; such markers indicate unavailable values rather than zero. The structural and geographic table is the evidence used here: the EIA’s 2024 survey page states that fuels-used/end-use and space-heating tables were scheduled for release in spring 2027. EIA Table HC2.3; 2024 RECS Survey Data