America faces a housing shortage, yet about 14.5 million homes across the country are vacant. How can both be true?
Using the latest U.S. Census Bureau data compiled by LendingTree, Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld created this map showing the share of vacant housing units in every state.
The figures include vacation homes, rentals awaiting tenants, homes for sale, and other unoccupied properties, not just abandoned buildings.
Which States Have the Highest Vacancy Rates?
About one in 10 U.S. housing units is vacant, but most are not permanently sitting unused.
Nearly 4.7 million vacant units are seasonal or recreational homes, 2.6 million are available for rent, and fewer than 800,000 are actively listed for sale. This helps explain why states with large vacation-home markets, including Maine, Vermont, Florida, and Hawaii, record some of the nation’s highest vacancy rates.
Rank State Vacancy Rate 2024 Vacant Housing Units 1 Maine 20.6% 154,717 2 Vermont 19.4% 65,626 3 Alaska 17.6% 57,958 4 West Virginia 15.4% 132,670 5 Florida 14.7% 1,503,660 6 Mississippi 14.6% 195,683 7 Alabama 14.5% 340,018 8 Louisiana 14.4% 304,122 9 New Hampshire 14.3% 92,650 10 Arkansas 13.5% 188,686 11 Delaware 13.4% 62,165 12 Hawaii 13.3% 75,443 13 South Carolina 13.3% 325,050 14 Montana 13.2% 69,560 15 New Mexico 12.5%
