How has the Nation’s Housing Changed over the last 20 Years? The Census Bureau says it’s been 20 years since the American Community Survey (ACS) began collecting detailed information on housing in the U.S. – giving us a window into changes that reshaped the nation’s housing over two decades. Despite the 2007 housing crash sparked by the subprime mortgage crisis and Great Recession, the nation’s housing stock continued to expand to accommodate a growing population — over 288 million people in households in 2005 to a household population of nearly 332 million in 2024.
Of the more than 22 million houses added between 2005 and 2024, the majority — about 13.5 million — were still single-family detached homes, representing a 17.8% increase. But housing in structures with 50 or more units nearly doubled. During that same period, 4.4 million more units were built, a 77.4% increase to 10.2 million in 2024
