Top Cities Where Renters Have Grown The Most Over The Last Five Years

Homeownership offers tons of benefits to Americans. But not everyone has the wherewithal to be able to afford a home, such as coming up with the down payment, covering the homeowner’s insurance and property taxes that come with the monthly mortgage payments, and much more. Across the U.S., rates of renting have fluctuated over the years, with some major cities seeing historic increases at the expense of owner-occupied homes. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 and 2014 American Community Surveys, we crunched the numbers to identify which of America’s 500 largest cities have experienced the largest increases in renters and rental rates.

Read on to find out which cities in the U.S. have seen the biggest growths in renter-occupied homes over the last five years.

Top Cities Where Renters Have Increased the Most

Geographically, many of the top cities where renters and rental rates have grown the most display patterns of being located in the Florida, Texas, Indiana, and Georgia. Not surprisingly, these regions are also the ones that have been drawing migrants within the U.S. from other states.

Fishers, Indiana

Fishers is a suburb of Indianapolis, whose population has grown dramatically, from 76,794 in 2010 to 95,310 in 2019. Fishers is a majority owner-occupied city in terms of its housing, but renter-occupied housing has increased significantly over the last five years. In 2014, only 4,773 occupied housing units were renters, but by 2019, that had grown by 53.1%, to 7,308 homes occupied by renters. Its share of homes occupied by renters rose from 16.9% in 2014 to more than 22%, making more than a fifth of its residents renters.

Frisco, Texas

North of downtown Dallas, Frisco is a fast-growing bedroom community of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. While owner-occupied housing is still very high, renter-occupied homes have been growing quickly over the last five years. In 2014, less than 11,000 homes were renter-occupied, but by 2019, that figure had risen by 56.2% — a growth of more than half — to 17,101 renter-occupied housing units. The renters’ share of housing moved up from 25.2% to 28.4% by 2019.

Palm Coast, Florida

Palm Coast, north of Daytona Beach, has seen its owner-occupied housing growth slow significantly over the last five years, while renter-occupied homes have increased substantially. From 5,661 rented homes in 2014, Palm Coast now has 8,156 renter-occupied homes, an increase of 44.1%. Plus, its share of renter-occupied homes moved from being one-fifth of all occupied homes, up to more than a quarter of all occupied homes.

McKinney, Texas

Here’s another Texas city to make our top-10 list. McKinney has seen the number of renter-occupied housing units increase 6,524 homes from 2014 to 2015, equivalent to growth of 43.9% in just five years. From only 14,865 rented homes in 2014, McKinney now has 21,389 homes occupied by renters. Its share of renter-occupied homes no accounts for more than a third of its housing.

New Braunfels, Texas

Again, Texas posts another city among the top-10 cities for renter growth, with New Braunfels adding 3,268 renter-occupied housing units over the last five years. From 7,626 in 2014, renter-occupied homes now stand at 10,894, equal to 37.8% of all occupied housing units, compared to 62.2% of homes that are owner-occupied.

Sugar Land, Texas

Sugar Land also made the list of the top cities where homeownership has increased the most. The reason why it made this list as well as in part due to overall growth in housing units in the city. However, the rate of growth in renter-occupied housing outpaced owner-occupied. From 2014, renter-occupied homes grew by 53.9%, from 4,755 housing units, to 7,319 in 2019.

The Villages, Florida

The Villages is a master-planned age-restricted community, and thus is overwhelming made up of owner-occupied housing units. In fact, 95.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. Despite this, renter-occupied homes have grown surprisingly fast, with rental homes increasing by 55.1%, from 1,169 in 2014 to 1,813 in 2019.

Miramar, Florida

Miramar has seen strong growth in renters at the expense of homeowners. Whereas owner-occupied housing units only grew by 3.2% over the last five years, renter-occupied homes grew by 30.5%: From 9,675 rental homes in 2014, to 12,622 homes in 2019. Now, the share of occupied homes that are rented rose from around a quarter to nearly 31% of all occupied homes.

Warner Robbins, Georgia

Warner Robbins, close to the Robins Air Force Base, has witnessed major growth in suburbanization in recent years. As a result, occupied housing units have increased over the last five years, from 26,574 in 2014, to 30,021 in 2019. Over the same period, owner-occupied home growth has actually stagnated a bit, recording an increase of only 2.5% from 2014 — when it was 14,885 — to 15,250 housing units in 2019. Meanwhile, renter-occupied housing has grown substantially, by 26.4%, from 11,689 rented homes in 2014, to 14,771 rented homes in 2019. As a result, the split between owner-occupied homes and renter-occupied homes is nearly half and half: 50.8% owner-occupied versus 49.2% renter-occupied.

Killeen, Texas

Lastly, there’s Killeen, the fifth Texas city to make our list of the top 10 cities with the greatest growth in renters. Whereas owner-occupied homes grew by only 6.4% over the last five years, rented homes have grown by 28.1%: From 23,408 rented units in 2014, to 29,988 rented housing units in 2015. This growth in rentals as tipped the balance more in favor of renters, as the share of occupied homes now stands at 56.2% renter-occupied versus 43.8% owner-occupied.