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Table HC10.1 Total square footage of U.S. homes, 20151

Release date: October 2017
Revised date: May 2018

Number of housing units (million) Total square footage (billion square feet)
  Total U.S.2 Total3 Heated Cooled
All homes 118.2 237.4 207.4 162.5
Census region and division        
Northeast 21.0 43.9 37.6 21.3
New England 5.6 12.3 10.5 4.4
Middle Atlantic 15.4 31.6 27.1 16.9
Midwest 26.4 60.1 53.9 42.8
East North Central 18.1 40.7 37.1 28.3
West North Central 8.3 19.4 16.8 14.5
South 44.4 86.2 74.6 69.9
South Atlantic 23.5 46.9 39.2 37.9
East South Central 7.2 13.5 11.7 10.0
West South Central 13.8 25.8 23.8 21.9
West 26.4 47.3 41.2 28.5
Mountain 8.5 17.1 16.1 11.6
Mountain North 4.2 9.2 8.7 5.5
Mountain South 4.3 7.9 7.5 6.1
Pacific 17.9 30.2 25.1 16.9
Census urban/rural classification4        
Urban 94.7 183.0 159.5 128.8
Urbanized area 82.2 159.7 138.9 113.0
Urban cluster 12.5 23.3 20.6 15.8
Rural 23.5 54.4 47.8 33.7
Metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area        
In metropolitan statistical area 98.5 198.4 172.7 138.2
In micropolitan statistical area 12.3 24.8 22.0 16.0
Not in metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area 7.4 14.2 12.7 8.3
Climate region5        
Very cold/Cold 42.5 94.7 85.3 56.7
Mixed-humid 33.5 69.5 59.3 51.3
Mixed-dry/Hot-dry 12.7 21.2 18.0 16.0
Hot-humid 22.8 39.7 34.1 33.8
Marine 6.7 12.3 10.7 4.8
Housing unit type        
Single-family detached 73.9 188.6 163.3 129.8
Single-family attached 7.0 12.4 10.7 8.3
Apartments in buildings with 2-4 units 9.4 9.6 9.1 5.7
Apartments in buildings with 5 or more units 21.1 18.7 16.5 13.3
Mobile homes 6.8 8.1 7.8 5.5
Year of construction        
Before 1950 20.8 41.8 34.8 19.4
1950 to 1959 12.6 23.6 20.3 14.0
1960 to 1969 12.8 24.0 20.8 15.3
1970 to 1979 18.3 32.4 28.6 22.8
1980 to 1989 16.0 29.3 25.8 21.6
1990 to 1999 16.8 36.7 33.0 28.7
2000 to 2009 17.0 40.6 36.2 33.2
2010 to 2015 3.8 9.0 8.0 7.5
Number of stories        
One story 47.5 97.6 83.4 67.6
Two stories 29.5 92.3 80.6 63.4
Three or more stories 1.8 5.2 4.5 2.8
Split level 2.1 5.9 5.4 4.3
Not asked (apartments and mobile homes) 37.3 36.4 33.4 24.4
Fuels used for any use (more than one may apply)        
Electricity 118.2 237.4 207.4 162.5
Natural gas 68.6 145.0 127.4 101.0
Propane6 11.6 28.3 24.4 17.2
Wood 12.5 31.9 27.9 19.1
Fuel oil/kerosene 6.9 16.4 13.5 6.6
Distributed solar generation        
Yes 1.5 4.2 3.6 2.9
No 86.2 205.0 178.2 140.7
Not asked (apartments) 30.5 28.2 25.6 18.9
Main space heating fuel        
Natural gas 57.7 128.0 115.0 90.5
Electricity 40.9 68.7 63.0 51.3
Fuel oil/kerosene 5.8 13.5 11.1 5.4
Propane 5.0 12.5 11.1 8.2
Wood 3.5 7.7 6.7 2.7
Do not use heating equipment 5.1 6.5 Q 4.1
Type of air-conditioning equipment used (more than one may apply)        
Use central air-conditioning equipment 76.1 168.8 149.1 148.9
Use individual air-conditioning units 32.1 55.4 47.7 24.5
Do not use air-conditioning equipment 15.4 26.0 21.6 0.0
Fuel used by main water heater        
Natural gas 56.3 119.4 105.1 83.7
Electricity 54.6 99.9 86.8 70.0
Propane 4.2 10.7 9.3 6.2
Fuel oil/kerosene 2.8 6.6 5.4 2.2
Some other fuel 0.3 0.7 0.7 0.5
Indoor light bulbs installed        
Fewer than 20 31.4 47.9 41.2 30.6
20 to 39 33.2 60.4 53.0 38.9
40 to 59 19.9 41.9 36.7 28.9
60 to 79 23.7 55.8 48.6 40.0
80 or more 10.0 31.5 27.8 24.1
Total number of rooms (excluding bathrooms)        
1 or 2 5.3 3.5 2.9 2.5
3 9.0 8.0 7.2 4.8
4 16.8 18.2 16.2 11.3
5 19.4 29.8 25.5 18.7
6 22.2 43.3 37.5 28.7
7 16.9 40.8 35.2 27.3
8 12.6 35.4 30.9 24.6
9 or more 16.0 58.3 51.9 44.5
Number of bedrooms        
0 3.2 2.2 1.9 1.6
1 11.7 10.1 9.1 6.2
2 29.8 39.2 34.4 24.9
3 47.6 103.7 89.6 68.7
4 20.5 62.3 54.9 45.9
5 or more 5.3 20.0 17.6 15.2
Have a basement        
Yes 35.2 107.8 88.8 65.5
Finished basement 20.6 64.5 55.6 43.4
Unfinished basement 14.6 43.3 33.2 22.1
No 45.7 93.3 85.2 72.6
Not asked (apartments and mobile homes) 37.3 36.4 33.4 24.4
Adequacy of insulation        
Well insulated 37.5 83.7 73.6 60.7
Adequately insulated 57.9 116.5 102.1 81.1
Poorly insulated 20.9 35.0 30.2 19.7
No insulation 1.9 2.2 1.5 1.0
Type of glass in windows        
Single-pane glass 48.7 79.9 68.7 51.7
Double-pane glass 68.3 154.5 136.2 108.6
Triple-pane glass 1.2 2.9 2.5 2.3
Number of household members        
1 member 28.7 43.5 38.7 27.7
2 members 42.7 88.2 76.2 60.8
3 members 19.4 41.1 35.8 28.5
4 members 15.5 36.6 32.5 26.9
5 members 7.2 16.5 14.5 11.6
6 or more members 4.6 11.4 9.7 7.0
2015 annual household income        
Less than $20,000 22.9 30.2 26.4 16.3
$20,000 to $39,999 27.3 46.2 40.4 29.3
$40,000 to $59,999 18.4 35.0 30.2 23.9
$60,000 to $79,999 15.2 33.0 28.5 22.2
$80,000 to $99,999 9.7 22.1 19.6 16.2
$100,000 to $119,999 8.1 21.4 19.0 16.0
$120,000 to $139,999 5.4 14.9 12.9 11.3
$140,000 or more 11.2 34.6 30.5 27.4
Ownership of housing unit7        
Owned 74.5 183.8 160.0 128.5
Rented 43.7 53.6 47.4 34.0

1Housing characteristics data were collected between August 2015 and April 2016.
2Total U.S. includes all primary occupied housing units in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vacant housing units, seasonal units, second homes, military houses, and group quarters are excluded.
3Total square footage includes all basements, finished or conditioned (heated or cooled) areas of attics, and conditioned garage space that is attached to the home. Unconditioned and unfinished areas in attics and attached garages are excluded. The square footage for some housing units was calculated based on measurements taken by the interviewer. For households responding without the presence of an interviewer, square footage was imputed based on characteristics of the housing unit. See 2015 RECS Square Footage Methodology for full details about data collection and processing.
4Housing units are classified using criteria created by the U.S. Census Bureau based on 2010 Census data. Urbanized areas are densely settled groupings of blocks or tracts with 50,000 or more people, while urban clusters have at least 2,500 but less than 50,000 people. All other areas are rural.
5These climate regions were created by the Building America program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
6Households that use propane only for outdoor grilling are excluded from the RECS estimate of households using propane.         
7Rented includes households that occupy their primary housing units without paying rent.

Notes:  Because of rounding, data may not sum to totals.  See RECS Terminology for definition of terms used in these tables.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Office of Energy Consumption and Efficiency Statistics, Forms EIA-457A and EIA-457C of the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey.