PHOENIX — An analysis by Lending Tree of data from the US Census Department found a gender gap in homeownership between single women and single men.
According to the study, 2.7 million more single women own homes compared to their single male counterparts.
Arizona’s gender gap of 2.69 percentage points in favor of single women ranks the state at 26th. The largest gender gap in the country was found in Delaware where single female homeowners outnumbered men by 5.89 percentage points.
It was followed by two other northeastern states; Maryland and Massachusetts, both of which had gender gaps at or near 5 percentage points. The state with the lowest gender gap for single females was Alaska, one of three states along with North and South Dakota where single men owned more homes compared with single women.
ABC15’s analysis of US Census data found a similar pattern; single women in Arizona have consistently owned homes at a higher number compared with single men since at least 2012. Since then, however, homeownership by single men has been increasing faster. Since 2012 the growth of single women homeowners is 26% while it’s 52% for single men.
Most single men and women homeowners do not have children. Conversely, the share of single men with children who own homes is slightly higher than single women; 42% of men and 36% of women.
The ratio difference between men and women homeowners with children has a lot to do with how homeownership breaks down by age for both genders. Of singles that own homes, 62% of both men and women are between the ages of 35 and 64. After 65, the gap between single men and women homeowners widens nine points. The gender gap reverses at younger ages with 20% of single male homeowners being under the age of 35 compared with 12% for single females.
