(Source & Credit: Forbes) – Single women who live by themselves are more likely to own a home than single men in 48 of 50 states, according to a new analysis by LendingTree. The online lending marketplace looked at data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that while women earn 83.1 cents for every dollar a man makes, women own about 2.46 million more homes than single men.
Single women own about 10.76 million homes, while single men own about 8.12 million. Put another way, single women own an average of 12.9% of the owner-occupied homes in the 50 states, versus 10.06% among single men.
Louisiana has the highest share of homes owned by single women. 15.16% of Louisiana owner-occupied households are owned by single women — more than 2 percentage points higher than the 50-state average.
North Dakota and South Dakota are the only states where single men own a higher share of homes than single women. In North Dakota, single men own 12.70% of the state’s owner-occupied homes (the highest share in any state), while single women own 11.08%. In South Dakota, those figures are 11.97% and 11.29%.
Florida has the largest gap in homeownership rates among single women and single men. The gap is 4.55% — nearly 2 percentage points higher than the national average of 2.84%.
Wyoming has the smallest gap in homeownership rates among single women and men. Though more single women own homes than single men, the “Equality State” nearly lives up to its name with a homeownership gender gap of only 0.39%.