.png){kind=logo}
Whether for economic advancement or educational opportunities, the US remains a nation of promise on the global stage. After receiving their passport stamps, many first-generation Americans make their way to the leasing office, as foreign-born US households are roughly 30% more likely to be renters than their US-born neighbors.[1] In this data briefing, we will explore data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey that sheds light on the growing importance of these foreign-born households for US rental sector demand.
Out of the 36.3 million rental households in the US, 9.4 million have a head of household born outside the country — accounting for 21.0% of total rental demand.
Over the past two decades, the foreign-born share of US rentals has gradually grown. At the turn of the century, 17.8% of rental households had a foreign-born head of household. This share rose in 10 of the next 16 years, peaking at 21.1% in 2016.
However, due to several changes to domestic immigration policy that limited the availability of visas, the foreign-born share of rental households declined between 2017 and 2020, reaching a ten-year low of 20.0%. Nevertheless, in the past two years of data, the foreign-born share has kicked back into growth, with the total number of these households rising by 5.6% and 3.9% in 2021 and 2022, respectively. As a result, the foreign-born market share (21.0%) is back within a hair of its previous high, and there have never been more foreign-born rental households in the US than there are today.
While a net shift of 3.2 percentage points of market share may not seem overly impactful, the aggregate growth beneath the hood has been substantial. Between 2000 and 2022, the number of foreign-born rental households in the US has grown by 47.6% — more than double the growth for US-born rental households (+20.5%) over the same period.
At more than one-fifth of total rental demand, the importance of foreign households for the domestic rental economy speaks for itself. As US population growth continues to sink lower — due in part to a falling birth rate — the dependence on foreign-born rental demand could continue to accelerate in the years to come.
[1] Based on Chandan Economics’ analysis of the US Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. Foreign-born rentership rate: 43.7%. US-born rentership rate: 33.0%.
Comments