Rankings · Housing

Highest vacancy rate by state

Share of homes that are vacant.

This measure has no better end. The order describes the states, it does not rank them — see the other direction.

Every housing unit is counted as occupied or vacant, and this is the vacant share. It reads two opposite ways: economic decline, or a tourist economy where houses stand empty most of the year. The second-home share beside it separates the two — a dying town and a ski town both post high vacancy. From Census table B25002.

  1. 1Maine20.6%
  2. 2Vermont19.4%
  3. 3Alaska17.7%
  4. 4West Virginia15.4%
  5. 5Florida14.7%
  6. 6Alabama14.6%
  7. 7Mississippi14.6%
  8. 8Louisiana14.4%
  9. 9New Hampshire14.3%
  10. 10Arkansas13.5%
  11. 11Delaware13.4%
  12. 12Hawaii13.3%
  13. 13South Carolina13.3%
  14. 14Montana13.2%
  15. 15North Carolina12.5%
  16. 16New Mexico12.5%
  17. 17North Dakota12.2%
  18. 18Wyoming12.2%
  19. 19Oklahoma12.0%
  20. 20Michigan11.8%
  21. 21Missouri11.2%
  22. 22Wisconsin10.8%
  23. 23Arizona10.6%
  24. 24South Dakota10.5%
  25. 25Georgia10.3%
  26. 26Idaho10.3%
  27. 27Kentucky10.3%
  28. 28Tennessee10.2%
  29. 29District of Columbia10.1%
  30. 30New York10.0%
  31. 31Texas9.4%
  32. 32Minnesota9.3%
  33. 33Nevada9.3%
  34. 34Kansas9.2%
  35. 35Pennsylvania9.2%
  36. 36Rhode Island9.1%
  37. 37Indiana8.8%
  38. 38Virginia8.7%
  39. 39Iowa8.5%
  40. 40Colorado8.3%
  41. 41Massachusetts8.1%
  42. 42Ohio8.1%
  43. 43Utah8.1%
  44. 44Illinois7.7%
  45. 45Maryland7.7%
  46. 46Nebraska7.6%
  47. 47California7.5%
  48. 48New Jersey7.5%
  49. 49Oregon7.5%
  50. 50Washington7.3%
  51. 51Connecticut7.0%
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau. · How this is built