Why 40% of U.S. homeowners have no mortgage—and the number keeps growing

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According to ResiClub’s analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s new annual data, 40.3% of U.S. owner-occupied housing units are now mortgage-free, marking a new high for this data series. That’s up from 39.8% in 2023.

The portion of homeowners with no mortgage has ticked up almost every year since 2010—when it was 32.8%.

A key factor driving the rise in mortgage-free homeownership is demographics. Older homeowners are more likely to be mortgage-free, and as Americans live longer and the massive baby boomer generation ages into their senior years, the U.S. population has skewed older—pushing up the share of homeowners without mortgages.

According to ResiClub’s analysis, 54% o