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HOME ... Ohio Workforce Housing Study 

Economic Indicators

  • Nationally, the annual growth in wages and salaries has outpaced overall inflation, on average, between 2002 and 2021. However, inflation outpaced the growth in wages and salaries in 2021. Specifically, the Employment Cost Index increased by 3.3% from 2020 to 2021, whereas the Consumer Price Index for all items increased by 4.7%.
  • The annual growth in national rent prices has outpaced the annual growth in both overall inflation and wages and salaries for every year since 2012 with the exception of 2021. In 2021, national rent prices increased by 2.2% compared to growth of 4.7% in overall inflation and growth of 3.3% in wages and salaries.
  • The annual growth in home prices across the United States and Ohio has increased at a higher rate than overall inflation as well as wages and salaries since 2013 and 2014, respectively. Home prices increased nationally by 13.7% between 2020 and 2021, whereas home prices in Ohio increased by 12.6% between 2020 and 2021. This represents the highest annual growth both nationally and in Ohio since 2001 and exceeds the annual growth experienced prior to the Great Recession.
  • According to the Housing Opportunity Index released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo, the major metropolitan areas in Ohio had a higher share of affordable homes sold since 2012 compared to the United States. Overall, the Youngstown MSA had the highest share of affordable homes sold, whereas the Columbus MSA had the lowest share of affordable homes sold.
  • The United States as well as the major metropolitan areas in Ohio experienced a sharp decline in the Housing Opportunity Index between the first and second quarters of 2022. The Housing Opportunity Index for the United States declined from 56.9 during the first quarter of 2022 to 42.8 during the second quarter of 2022, representing a 14.1-point drop in the index value. This means that less than half (42.8%) of homes sold across the United States in the second quarter of 2022 were affordable to a family earning the local median income. In Ohio, the Columbus MSA had the highest decline in the index value between the first and second quarters of 2022. The index value for the Columbus MSA declined from 72.0 in the first quarter of 2022 to 55.7 in the second quarter of 2022. This represents a 16.3-point drop in the index value for the Columbus MSA, which is higher than the decline experienced nationally. During the second quarter of 2022, approximately half (55.7%) of homes sold were affordable to a family earning the local median income.
  • The price-to-income ratio represents the relationship between the home price a household can afford given its annual household income. In Ohio, price-to-income ratios were the highest between 2003 and 2006 and in 2021 and lowest between 2008 and 2012. The price-to-income ratio in Ohio averaged 2.26 between 2001 and 2021. In 2021, the price-to-income ratio was estimated at 2.54, the highest value since 2006.



'Owner-occupied housing units spent approximately 15.7% of their income on housing costs in 2020, whereas renter-occupied housing units spent approximately 28.4% of their income on housing costs in 2020.'

 

 

Housing Characteristics

  • Ohio had a total of 5.14 million housing units in 2015 and 5.22 million housing units in 2020. This represents an increase of 76,188 housing units, or an annual growth rate of 0.3%.
  • The vacancy rate dropped from 10.8% in 2015 to 9.6% in 2020.
  • Of occupied housing units, approximately two-thirds (66.3%) were owner-occupied in both 2015 and 2020. Therefore, renter-occupied units represented 33.7% of occupied housing units in both 2015 and 2020.
  • In both 2015 and 2020, more than two-thirds of housing units in Ohio were detached single-family homes.
  • Of housing units in Ohio during 2020, approximately 11% were built between 2000 and 2013 and 2% were built in 2014 or later.
  • Householders under the age of 35 years were 1.7 times more likely to rent their housing unit than own it. However, householders between the ages of 35 and 44 years were 1.7 times more likely to own their housing unit than rent. Additionally, householders aged 45 years and older were between 2.5 and 4.2 times more likely to own their housing unit than rent it.
  • White householders were 2.6 times more likely to own their housing unit than rent it, whereas, Black/African American householders were 1.8 times more likely to rent their housing unit than own it.
  • The median household income of owner- and renter-occupied housing units in Ohio was $76,309 and $35,590 in 2020, respectively, after adjusting for inflation. This means that owner-occupied housing units had a median household income that was more than $40,000 higher than the median household income of renter-occupied housing units in 2020.
  • The median monthly housing costs of owner- and renter-occupied housing units in Ohio were $997 and $844 in 2020, respectively, after adjusting for inflation. Owner-occupied housing units spent approximately 15.7% of their income on housing costs in 2020, whereas renter-occupied housing units spent approximately 28.4% of their income on housing costs in 2020. This means the renter-occupied housing units in Ohio spent nearly twice as much of their income on housing costs compared to owner-occupied housing units in 2020.