LendingTree: Average Homeowner Age Varies by Location

Conventional wisdom suggests older Americans flock to Florida, while younger Americans move to high-tech cities such as San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. But is that really true?

Um, yes. Yes, it is.

LendingTree, Charlotte, N.C., released a report on average homeowner age across the U.S. Using data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, LendingTree ranked the 100 largest metropolitan areas by average homeowner age.

And what LendingTree found pretty much supported perceptions. Homeowners in Florida are, really, older than homeowners in most other states. Seven out of the top 10 metropolitan areas with the highest average homeowner age were in Florida.

Homeowners in cities in Utah are among the youngest in the country. Of the top 10 metropolitan areas with the lowest average age for homeowners, Utah–Provo, Ogden and Salt Lake City–held the top three spots.

“It’s no secret that young and old people gravitate toward different parts of the country,” said Tendayi Kapfidze, Chief Economist with LendingTree. “Florida is a well-known haven for retirees, while places such as San Francisco and Austin, Texas, have emerged as millennial boomtowns over the past few years. As a result, the average age of a homeowner varies by location.”

The report said the average age of a homeowner across the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States is 54. Only two metros in the analysis–Provo and Ogden–have an average homeowner age below 50 (47.3 and 49.4, respectively).

North Port, Fla., claimed the highest average homeowner age (63.3), followed by Cape Coral, Fla. (61.5) and Deltona, Fla. (60.2).

The report can be accessed at https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/average-homeowner-age-across-100-largest-u-s-metropolitan-areas/.