Americans have plenty of room for guests — the number of homes with “extra” bedrooms just hit a record high, finds a new analysis.
Houses are getting bigger just as households are getting smaller.
The number of persons per household in the U.S. has fallen from a peak of 3.1 people in 1970 to a record low of 2.5 in 2023, notes the report from Realtor.com.
Americans are having fewer children, more are living alone, and empty nest Baby Boomers don’t want to leave their big roomy houses.
Some older folks are locked into lower mortgage rates. Others don’t want to move at a time when homes are mostly unaffordable, and many are looking to avoid a capital gains tax hit when they sell their home.
The report, which analyzed Census data, defines “extra” bedrooms as the number of bedrooms in excess of the number of residents (plus one, to account for the possibility that one room is used for an office).
Last year, the total number of extra bedrooms in the U.S. reached 31.9 million, up from 31.3 million the year prior, and over four times the 7 million in 1980, according to the analysis.
The share of all bedrooms that could be considered guest rooms rose to 8.8% in 2023, up slightly from the prior year.
That’s more than double the rate of 3.5% in 1980.
All that extra space costs a lot of extra money. The typical three-bedroom home in the U.S. costs $336,839, per data from Zillow’s home value index. The typical four bedroom? $496,089. (Of course these numbers vary wildly depending on the region.)
Where it stands: The Mountain West and the South have the most extra bedrooms, per the report — since there’s more space to build in those regions and the homes are typically built bigger.
12% of the bedrooms are “extra” in Salt Lake City, Memphis and Atlanta. But only 6% of Miami’s bedrooms are spare, and only 7% of the rooms in Los Angeles and New York City.
