What Metro Detroit homeowners do for a living
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Management and business professionals are most likely to own a home in the Detroit area, according to a National Association of Realtors analysis of Census Bureau data.
The big picture: Homeownership occupation trends in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area diverge from the national pattern, as we have higher overall rates of homeownership here among all the careers studied.
Zoom in: 67% of national STEM workers owned a home in 2024, while 76% did in Metro Detroit.
- The same went for skilled trades workers: 62% nationally and 69% locally.
The big picture: The occupations with the highest homeownership rates haven't changed much in the past decade.
- But notably, a lower percentage of Metro Detroit transit and public safety workers own homes now than they did in 2014.
Zoom out: Census data showed last year that about 72% of Detroit-area homes are owner-occupied, compared with about 65% nationally.
Reality check: "It's not just about jobs. It's really about where those jobs are located, and how affordable housing is in those markets," NAR principal economist Nadia Evangelou tells Axios.
Between the lines: A lack of affordable supply is keeping homeownership out of reach for many.
- The national median single-family home price grew to five times the median household income in 2024, according to a recent Harvard report.
The bottom line: "There are not enough homes at the price point people can afford to buy, and that's pushing even strong earners out of homeownership," Evangelou says.