The cities where America's housing is oldest
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The typical home in New Bedford, Massachusetts was built in 1938. The typical home in Buckeye, Arizona was built in 2011. That's a difference of 73 years of construction for typical homes between them.
Median year built is one of the quieter numbers the census collects, and it explains an enormous amount about a place: what it costs to heat, whether it has central air, how likely the pipes are to be lead, and whether the city was already finished before the car reshaped how we live and commute.
The oldest housing in America
Among cities over 100,000 people, five are tied at a median year built of 1938, meaning half their housing predates World War II.
| City | Median year built |
|---|---|
| New Bedford, MA | 1938 |
| St. Louis, MO | 1938 |
| Buffalo, NY | 1938 |
| Rochester, NY | 1938 |
| Providence, RI | 1938 |
| Cleveland, OH | 1941 |
| Pittsburgh, PA | 1942 |
| San Francisco, CA | 1946 |
These are the cities that were fully built before 1940 and then stopped growing. Buffalo, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh all peaked in population between 1930 and 1950 and have been losing population ever since, which we traced in how the Rust Belt lost its factory jobs. When a city stops adding people, it stops adding houses, and the existing stock just ages in place.
San Francisco is the interesting one on this list. It's not shrinking and it's one of the most expensive housing markets in the world. Its median home dates to 1946 because the city is landlocked at 47 square miles and has spent decades making it very difficult to build anything new.
And the newest
At the other end are the exurbs that didn't exist a generation ago. Buckeye, Arizona has a median year built of 2011. Frisco, Texas is 2009, McKinney, Texas is 2007, and Enterprise, Nevada outside Las Vegas is 2007. In these places, more than half of all housing has been built since the last financial crisis.
A 1938 house was built for coal or oil heat, without insulation standards, wired for a fraction of the electrical load a modern household draws, and probably plumbed with materials no one would use today. It was also built with materials and craftsmanship that are expensive to reproduce, on a small lot, close to a street grid that works without a car.
A 2011 house has central air, modern wiring, and insulation that actually meets code. It also sits in a place where almost every trip requires driving.
If you're weighing a move, it's worth checking alongside the numbers we walk through in how to use census data to choose a neighborhood.
Sources
Median year structure built is from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, table B25035, for cities with at least 100,000 residents. The figure is the median across all housing units in the city, so half the housing is older and half is newer.
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Which US city has the oldest housing?
Among cities with at least 100,000 residents, five are tied with a median year built of 1938: New Bedford, Massachusetts, St. Louis, Buffalo, Rochester, and Providence. That means half of all housing in those cities predates World War II. Cleveland follows at 1941 and Pittsburgh at 1942.
Which city has the newest housing?
Buckeye, Arizona has the newest housing stock of any city over 100,000, with a median year built of 2011. Frisco, Texas follows at 2009, then McKinney, Texas and Enterprise, Nevada at 2007. In these cities, more than half of all housing has been built since the 2008 financial crisis.
Why does San Francisco have such old housing?
San Francisco's median home dates to 1946 for a different reason than the Rust Belt cities. It has never lost population and has extremely high demand, but the city is confined to about 47 square miles and has long made new construction difficult. The result is old housing in a market with constant pressure to build.
