California is the nation’s second-hardest state to find a homeowner.

My trusty spreadsheet reviewed homeownership stats from the Census Bureau for the 50 states back to 1988. The numbers show little return on decades of incentives to get Americans to live in a home they own.

California is a prime example of what didn’t work. It had an average 55% of its households living in a home they own in 2022 through 2024. Only New York, at 53%, had less ownership. After California, Hawaii was at 60% and Nevada at 61%.

Nationally, 69% own their residence. Tops? West Virginia at 78%, then Delaware, Mississippi, and Maine at 75%. California rivals? Texas was No. 44 at 63%, and Florida was No. 31 at 68%.

Nothing much has changed in the Golden State, rankings-wise, look back to 1988-1990. Back then, California also suffered the second-lowest ownership at 54%. Again, it was just ahead of New York at 52%. And by the way, California ownership peaked in bubble-fueled 2006 at 60%.

Nationally, ownership was 67% in 1988-90, topped by Maine, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Michigan at 73%. Texas was No. 43 at 60% and Florida, No. 35, at 65%.

Contrast these two periods separated by almost four decades. Despite countless efforts to boost ownership, the share of Californians residing in a place they own grew by only 1.5 percentage points.

To be fair, that was the 29th-best performance nationally. It’s a noteworthy middle-of-the-pack ranking for California’s otherwise bottom-of-the-barrel ownership levels.

Nationally, ownership is up 1.8 percentage points over 37 years. Texas rose 3.2 points (No. 21) and Florida was up 2.9 points (No. 25).

Where did ownership balloon? Tops? Colorado, up 7.5 percentage points to 66.8%, New Hampshire, up 7.3 points to 73.9%, and Alaska, up 7.2 points to 65.2%.

Where did ownership tumble? Oklahoma, off 3.5 points to 67.8%, North Carolina, down 3.1 points to 65.8%, and North Dakota, a loss of 2.2 points to 65.1%.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

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