Home Buying

Women lead the way: Mass. ranks 9th in US for widest gender gap in homeownership

Single women here own roughly 76,569 more properties than single men. 

woman moving into home
A study by LendingTree suggested that single women who live alone are more likely to own a home than single men who live alone in 47 states. Adobe Stock

By Claudie Bellanger

2 minutes to read

While women generally earn less than men, homeownership is one financial area where they are strides ahead. 

A Jan. 27 study from LendingTree suggests that despite have median weekly earnings that are 83.6 percent that of men’s, single women own more homes than single men in the United States: roughly 2,719,923 more.

Women own 11.14 million homes, according to the study. New Mexico has the largest share of single-women homeowners at 15.26 percent, followed by Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, and South Carolina. Which states have the largest share of single-men homeowners? North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia, and New Mexico.

The study also suggested that single women who live alone are more likely to own a home than single men who live alone in 47 states. The study ranked Massachusetts ninth in the nation for the widest gender gap in homeownership between single homeowners, with single women owning roughly 76,569 more properties here than single men. 

Gender gaps between single homeowners

RANKSTATE% OWNED
BY SINGLE WOMEN		% OWNED
BY SINGLE
MEN		PERCENTAGE
POINT DIFFERENCE
1.Delaware14.06%8.83%5.23
2.Connecticut13.17%8.11%5.06
3.Maryland14.22%9.28%4.94
4.North Carolina13.87%9.18%4.69
5.New Jersey12.5%7.92%4.58
6.South Carolina14.55%10.10%4.45
7.Florida14.52%10.09%4.43
8.New York14.11%9.71%4.4
9.Massachusetts13.32%8.94%4.38
10.Mississippi15.07%11.04%4.03
Source: LendingTree

How did the other four New England states fare?

RANKSTATE% OWNED
BY SINGLE WOMEN		% OWNED
BY SINGLE
MEN		PERCENTAGE
POINT DIFFERENCE
12.Rhode Island13.45%9.50%3.95
13.Vermont14.04%10.11%3.93
18.Maine14.01%10.48%3.53
33.New Hampshire11.35%9.03%2.32
Source: LendingTree

The LendingTree study said that there is evidence that women are more likely to make sacrifices to buy a property than men are and that they tend to desire homeownership more. Women are also more likely to be caregivers than men, which may contribute to a need for security in terms of their living situation, according to the study.

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Albert Saiz, an associate professor of real estate and urban economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also suggested that education is a factor, especially in Massachusetts. Women account for more than half of the college-educated workforce in the United States, according to Pew Research Center data.

“The demand for labor in Massachusetts is biased toward highly skilled laborers who have a bachelor’s degree or higher,” Saiz said. These high-skill jobs usually come with stability that may allow people to be more financially prepared to buy a home.”

Age is another factor, as millennials make up the largest share of home buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors. LendingTree suggested that while women typically make less than men, this isn’t the case everywhere, especially among the young. In six metros in the United States, including Portland, Maine, the average earnings among millennial women are higher than those of millennial men, making them more financially ready for home buying.

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While homebuying conditions for women have made significant progress, barriers still exist, according to Bankrate research. A 2022 Yale Management study titled  “The Gender Gap in Housing Returns” compared women and men who buy in the same ZIP code in the same month and year, and suggested that women buy the same property for 1 percent to 2 percent more and sell it for up to 3 percent less. 

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