Tenure – Mortgage Status
The data on mortgage status were obtained from the 2019-23 American Community Survey. Indicator data reflects the universe of owner-occupied housing units.
Mortgage status provides information on the cost of home ownership. When the data is used in conjunction with mortgage payment data, the information determines shelter costs for living quarters. These data can be use in the development of housing programs aimed to meet the needs of people at different economic levels. The data also serve to evaluate the magnitude of and to plan facilities for condominiums, which are becoming an important source of supply of new housing in many areas.
Source
Source Description
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with reliable and timely social, economic, housing, and demographic data every year. The ACS has an annual sample size of about 3.5 million addresses, with survey information collected nearly every day of the year. Data are pooled across a calendar year to produce estimates for that year. As a result, ACS estimates reflect data that have been collected over a period of time rather than for a single point in time as in the decennial census, which is conducted every 10 years and provides population counts as of April 1. The Census Bureau combines 5 consecutive years of ACS data to produce estimates for geographic areas with fewer than 65,000 residents. These 5-year estimates represent data collected over a period of 60 months. Because the ACS is based on a sample, rather than all housing units and people, ACS estimates have a degree of uncertainty associated with them, called sampling error. In general, the larger the sample, the smaller the level of sampling error. Data users should be careful in drawing conclusions about small differences between two ACS estimates because they may not be statistically different.
For more information about this source, including data collection methodology and definitions, refer to the American Community Survey data user’s website.
Methodology
Data on mortgage status are acquired from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Data represent estimates for the 5-year period 2019-2023. Mapped data are summarized to 2023 census tract boundaries. A mortgage is considered a first mortgage if it has prior claim over any other mortgage or if it is the only mortgage on the property. All other mortgages second, third, etc.) are considered junior mortgages. A home equity loan is generally a junior mortgage. If no first mortgage is reported, but a junior mortgage or home equity loan is reported, then the loan is considered a first mortgage. Area statistics are measured as a percentage of the total owner-occupied housing units based on the following formula:
For more information on the data reported in the American Community Survey, please see the complete American Community Survey 2023 Subject Definitions.
Data Breakouts Available
- Owned without a mortgage by Ethnicity Alone, Percent by Ethnicity
- Owned without a mortgage by Race Alone, Percent
- Owned without a mortgage by Race Alone, Total
- Owned with a mortgage by Ethnicity Alone, Percent by Ethnicity
- Owned with a mortgage by Race Alone, Percent
- Owned with a mortgage by Race Alone, Total