THE MORNING RANT: Hillbilly Paradox - Why do America’s Poorest States Have Such a High Level of Home Ownership?

Call them hillbillies, rednecks, hayseeds, hicks, or whatever you might please, “poor” Americans in rural states are much more likely to be property owners than urbane Americans living in more affluent states.

The importance of property ownership to the people that Hillary Clinton smeared as being a “basket of deplorables” is significant. Be it ever so humble, a domicile with a deed is a source of wealth, security and self-reliance.

The New York Post ran an article last week titled “Why Some of America’s Poorest States Have the Highest Homeownership” which didn’t actually provide an answer to the question posed in the headline. The closest it came to offering an answer is by suggesting that higher income states also have more expensive real estate.

For starters, this article is measuring rich and poor based on income, not wealth. A tech-bro renting an expensive downtown loft and leasing a Tesla may be leading an affluent lifestyle, but it doesn’t mean his personal net worth exceeds that of the plumber who owns an inexpensive house in a small town beyond the city sprawl.

West Virginia leads all states with a 77% homeownership rate, followed closely by Delaware (75.7%), Mississippi (75.5%), Maine (75.5%), and Wyoming (74.5%), according to U.S. Census data. Despite the high ownership percentages, these states—for the most part—have vastly lower average incomes compared with the rest of the country.

Per this article, Mississippi and West Virginia have the two lowest average incomes in the nation, yet they are the 1st and 3rd highest in homeownership rate.

Other lower-income states with high ownership include Alabama (9th ownership, 48th income), South Carolina (12th ownership, 44th income), Idaho (15th ownership, 40th income), and New Mexico (18th ownership, 45th income).

Conversely, the highest income states have the lowest rate of homeownership.

States with the lowest homeownership rate include some of the nation’s highest-earning states: New York (6th income, 50th for ownership), California (4th income, 49th ownership), Nevada (25th income, 48th ownership), Hawaii (26th income, 47th ownership), and Massachusetts (1st income, 46th ownership).

The density of high population states and the associated cost of scarce real estate plays a role…

“A few factors are at play here,” says Realtor.com® economist Hannah Jones. “States with lower median income levels tend to have lower home prices as well, even when considered relative to earnings. Though California, New York, and Massachusetts are among the highest-earning states in the U.S., buyers also see the highest home prices relative to income levels.”

But the difference is certainly cultural too. The “red state” mindset is one of self-reliance, which includes property ownership, with all the security and freedom that comes from possessing real estate. These heartland homeowners understand better than the targets of the “rent don’t buy” hustle that with a finite number of rental properties, a homeowner will never be desperately looking for an affordable place to rent.

The “poor” homeowner out beyond the central city not only sleeps on a little patch of wealth every night, but he often uses part of his property as a source of additional income, be it in his shed, carport, garage, or on his extra land. The store of wealth under his feet offers the opportunity to create more wealth. It also frequently offers a measure of generational wealth that he can pass on to his children

Interestingly, homeownership among black Americans is also highest in the South. After emancipation, it would make sense that owning real property would hold such cultural importance in that region of the country. This is from a report produced in 2023 by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Homeownership rates among Black households also varied significantly across the country. Under a quarter of Black households were homeowners in four states with small Black populations: North Dakota (9.0 percent), South Dakota (22.2 percent), Hawaii (24.2 percent), and Minnesota (24.2 percent). Meanwhile, homeownership rates were highest in a handful of Southern states with large Black populations. Indeed, between 50.1 and 52.8 percent of Black households were homeowners in Alabama, Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, and South Carolina.

A few days ago, John Hinderaker at Powerline discussed the “Great Sort” of people fleeing blue states for the economic and personal freedom of red states. This is having the unfortunate effect of driving up real estate prices in the destination states, but their motivation is understandable, for owning a piece of dirt in a culturally conservative state is the ultimate dream for millions of freedom-loving people.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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