According to a report from Realtor.com, the number of people living in the average American home is shrinking, leaving many homes with more bedrooms than they need.
Analyzing US Census Bureau data from 1970 to 2023, as well as data from the 100 largest US metropolitan areas, researchers found that the number and proportion of “extra bedrooms” reached a record high in 2023, subtracting the total number of household members from the number of bedrooms in a given urban area. Then they subtracted one from that number and acknowledged that a guest bedroom is often used as an office or storage space.
In 2023, the number of empty bedrooms nationwide reached 31.9 million, up slightly from 31.3 million in 2022. But in 1970 the number was just over 4 million. The proportion of excess bedrooms out of all bedrooms has also risen sharply over the decades, from 2.7 percent in 1970 to 8.8 percent in 2023.
Why so many empty bedrooms? Researchers attributed the increase to both “decreasing household sizes and an increase in the number of bedrooms per home.” However, the increase in the number of bedrooms per household was small, so the change is mainly due to the decreasing number of people per household. According to the report, there were 3.1 people per household in 1970 and a record low of 2.5 people in 2023.
So where is the proportion of empty bedrooms highest? Look at the mountainous west or south: Ogden, Utah, led the way with 12.2 percent of all bedrooms unoccupied, followed by Colorado Springs (12.1 percent). In the South, Memphis (11.8 percent) and Atlanta (11.6 percent) topped the list.
The report also pointed to a “loose but noticeable” correlation between average home values and the proportion of excess bedrooms. Because an extra bedroom is more affordable in a cheaper city, markets with lower proportions of excess bedrooms were often in more expensive areas: Miami (5.9 percent), North Port, Florida (6.4 percent) and New York City (6. 5 percent).
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