What Indianapolis area homeowners do for a living
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Management and business professionals are most likely to own homes in the Indianapolis area, according to an analysis shared exclusively with Axios.
The big picture: High-earning STEM professionals used to be at the top, but have lost ground as service and skilled trade workers tick up, per the National Association of Realtors analysis of census data.
By the numbers: Management and business professionals now lead in Indy with roughly 77% owning homes in 2024, up 2 percentage points from 2014.
- STEM and education/social services also remain near the top locally at 73% and 72%, respectively.
- The U.S. overall homeownership rate is around 65%.
The big picture: The occupations with the highest homeownership rates haven't changed much in the past decade.
- But notably, a higher percentage of metro Indy service workers owned homes in 2024 (59%) than they did in 2014 (56%), and at a rate that exceeds the national average (43%).
Zoom out: The biggest shifts are local. Even as the national picture holds steady, homeownership varies widely on local housing affordability and job mix, according to NAR.
- In around 61% of 368 metro areas analyzed, the occupation most likely to own a home in 2024 wasn't the same as in 2014.
- "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.