In 47 out of 50 states, more single women own homes than single men, according to a new study from LendingTree, an online lending marketplace.
Now, single women across the U.S. own 2.71 million more homes than men, a figure that’s up from 2.64 million in 2021. However, the percentage of single women who own homes is down compared to a couple of decades ago.
Pew Research Center data published last July showed that single women owned 58% of the nearly 35.2 million homes owned by unmarried Americans last year. Back in 2000, they owned 64% of the almost 25 million homes owned by unmarried Americans.
“A basic reason the gender gap in homeownership among single Americans has narrowed in recent years is that single women no longer so heavily outnumber single men among older household heads,” said Pew. “Today, women only account for about two-thirds of single household heads ages 65 and older, down from three-quarters in 2000. Again, this may reflect changes in life expectancy; women tend to live longer than men, but the gap has narrowed over time.”
LendingTree also noted that single-women homeowners are typically older than their single-men counterparts. A third of all single women household heads were at least 65 years old in 2022 and only 22% of single men household heads were in that age group.
It also said that single woman home ownership isn’t linked with them having more stable finances than men. Citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics, LendingTree said that women’s median weekly earnings are only 83% of men’s in the U.S.
“While some may assume that higher homeownership rates are indicative that women are likely to disproportionately benefit from things like divorce, evidence doesn’t support this conclusion,” said LendingTree. “On the contrary, women are more likely to face long-term economic struggles after a divorce than men. This highlights how much work is needed to address the economic imbalances among genders.”
Median income for households headed by single women is $49,400, considerably lower than households headed by single men at $61,700, according to Lending Tree. The site said Households headed by single women tend to have a lower net worth than those headed by single men.
Some “sparse” evidence indicates that single women are more willing than single men to make sacrifices to become homeowners than single men.
States with the largest gap between single women and single men homeowners were Delaware (15.34% of owner-occupied households owned by single women), Louisiana (15.19% of owner-occupied households owned by single women) and Mississippi (14.84% of owner-occupied households owned by single women). North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska are the three states where more single men own homes than women.