SHERIDAN — Wyoming ranks among the top when it comes to residents who own their homes, according to a new report.

In Wyoming in 2023, the most recent annual data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, 74.5% of households owned their home, meaning the state’s home ownership rate ranked fifth of all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.

In comparison, the home ownership rate is the highest in West Virginia at 77%, and lowest in New York at 53.3% and Washington D.C. at 40.2%.

“Homeowner rates have always been higher in Wyoming (than many other states),” Dr. Wenlin Liu, chief economist with the Wyoming Economic Analysis Division, said.

“One thing that contributes is likely the cost of housing. You could say that houses are much more expensive in a place like California, or Washington D.C. than in Wyoming, so their home ownership is lower,” he said.

California’s home ownership rate in 2023 ranked 49th at 55.8%.

The overall home ownership rate in the U.S. in 2023 was 65.6%, with the average age of a homeowner of 61.2 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the data source for much of the state’s newly released 2024 “Just the Facts” report. 

The report provides information on demography, education, the economy, transportation, housing, geography, tourism, agriculture, tax environment and crime and law enforcement in Wyoming. The data displays facts for the most recent period for Wyoming, its ranking relative to other states and the change from the previous period.

“People are often curious about how their state ranks compared to others. This publication compiles statistics from a diverse array of data sources, allowing residents to explore how Wyoming has changed over time and where it stands nationally," Liu said.

According to a 2024 Profile Of Home Buyers And Sellers by the National Association of Realtors, the median first-time home buyer age increased to 38 years old in 2024 from 35 in 2023, while the typical repeat-buyer age increased to 61 years from 58 in the same time span.

The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a slightly lower homeowner rate of 65% nationwide for only the second quarter of 2025, more recent but less comprehensive data than the previous year included in the state’s Just the Facts report.

Relatively speaking, home ownership rates are often higher in rural states, Liu said.

“Areas like Montana and the Dakotas have comparable homeowner rates to Wyoming,” he said.

Wyoming Community Development Authority Deputy Executive Director Christopher Volzke said his view of the high home ownership rate in Wyoming, especially compared to other places in the nation, may represent a regional pattern in the mountain West rather than something specific to Wyoming. Idaho ranked 15th on the list, Montana ranked 16th and South Dakota ranked 22nd.

“Based on the Federal Bank of St. Louis data, Wyoming home ownership rate was 73.4% back in 2010, so it is similar now to what it was 15 years ago,” Volze said.

“If you look at Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, we all have higher home ownership rates than the national average and are higher than our neighbors to the south in Colorado,” he continued.

Colorado came in 34th on the list this year. Population density likely factors into this, Volzke said, as rural communities are more apt to have structures built and designed for ownership, likely factors into the state’s high percentage. More dense, urban areas tend to prioritize rental housing and livable city cores.

“There is probably also a cultural influence here where our Wyoming population values property ownership and independence,” Volzke said.

After COVID, home prices soared across the nation, although homeowner rates in Wyoming have remained steady for about a decade. In 2014, 70.8% of Wyoming households owned their homes, and in 2020 that number had risen to 73.9%.

In the spring, experts in the housing market said prices were finally stabilizing, although most buyers have to spend more on starter homes in the state than they used to. The median sold price of a home in Sheridan County was $442,500 according to an April 2025 market trends report by the Wyoming MLS. The median estimated property value in Sheridan County last spring was $395,170, representing a 6.8% increase over the past year.

Data on home ownership rates also correlates to wage earnings in an area, according to Liu. Affordable housing remains a challenge in much of the state, as the median value of owner-occupied housing units in 2023 was $298,700, up 2.2% from $292,300 in 2022. Those numbers do not match the median sold price in many areas.

There was a significant spike in building after 2020, when residential building permits reached an all-time high of 3,004 issued in 2022, according to the Just the Facts report. Fast forward a year, and permits dropped 44% to 1,681. Rather than demonstrating a drop in building, Liu said that likely represented the end of a building spike post-COVID.

“Another factor contributing to that (2022 spike in) building had to do with the federal interest rates changing,” Liu said.

In September of 2024, the Federal Reserve announced it would lower interest rates by half a percentage point, setting its target range to 4.75%-5%, and interest rates on mortgages began to fall even before the announcement.