Summary

Average household size, US states

Average household size by state · all 52 states · hover or tap a state for every figure on this page

StatesUtah

Summary

Darker amber is a larger average household size. Puerto Rico is listed in the ranking and table but is not on this map.

A typical published area has an average household size of 2.47 people, the midpoint of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico on the 2023 ACS five-year estimates. Utah leads at 2.99, and Hawaii and California also sit above 2.80. Maine is the lowest of the 50 states at 2.27. The District of Columbia, which this table also returns, sits far lower at 1.99. Utah is 0.72 people above Maine and 1.00 above the District of Columbia. These are averages of people per occupied housing unit in each area, not a national figure of households.

2.47typical published areathe middle area, not a national average

2.99Utahhighest average household size

2.27Mainelowest of the 50 states

1.99District of Columbialowest figure the Census published

3areas at or above 2.80Utah, Hawaii and California

Figure 1

Average household size, all published states

Average household size · all 52 · ranked high to low

Summary

Every area the Census published in this table: 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 52 in all. Utah leads at 2.99 people per occupied housing unit, then Hawaii at 2.88 and California at 2.86. Maine is the lowest of the 50 states at 2.27. The District of Columbia is 1.99. The middle published area sits at 2.47. Three areas reach 2.80. The ranking is each area's own average household size on the 2023 ACS five-year estimates.

Figure 2

Owner-occupied household size, all published states

Owner-occupied household size · all 52 · ranked high to low

Summary

Owner-occupied housing units in every published area, 52 in all. Utah leads at 3.17 people, then Hawaii at 2.99 and California at 2.96. Maine is the lowest of the 50 states at 2.38. The District of Columbia is 2.21. Owner-occupied households are larger than renter-occupied households in every area on this page.

Figure 3

Owner size against renter size

Renter-occupied household size against owner-occupied household size · one point per row, 52 of 52 plotted

Summary

Each point is one area with both figures published, 52 of 52. Owner-occupied households are larger than renter-occupied households in every area. The relationship is strong: the correlation coefficient is 0.78, so owner size accounts for about 61 per cent of the variation in renter size. The widest gap is North Dakota, where owners average 2.53 people and renters 1.94. The narrowest is Florida, at 2.53 versus 2.46. District of Columbia pairs owner households of 2.21 with renter households of 1.84, the smallest renter figure on the page.

Table 1

All states

52 rows · 6 columns · sorted by average household size, high to low

Summary

Average household size for occupied, owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing units, plus the number of households, for every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico on the 2023 ACS five-year estimates. Sort any column or use the filter box to jump to a state by name. Each household-size figure is an average for that area alone, so those columns cannot be averaged into a United States figure.

All states
	?	?	?	?	?
Utah	2.99	0.01	3.17	2.58	1,094,896
Hawaii	2.88	0.01	2.99	2.69	488,991
California	2.86	0.01	2.96	2.72	13,434,847
Texas	2.70	0.01	2.87	2.42	10,747,240
Idaho	2.66	0.01	2.74	2.45	693,821
Georgia	2.64	0.01	2.73	2.46	4,008,013
Alaska	2.63	0.01	2.74	2.40	267,865
Nevada	2.62	0.01	2.69	2.53	1,183,393
New Jersey	2.61	0.01	2.74	2.39	3,478,355
Puerto Rico	2.60	0.01	2.66	2.45	1,239,243
Maryland	2.58	0.01	2.70	2.34	2,339,510
Arizona	2.54	0.01	2.60	2.41	2,796,790
Virginia	2.53	0.01	2.64	2.32	3,326,260
Louisiana	2.52	0.01	2.60	2.36	1,783,168
Mississippi	2.52	0.01	2.58	2.40	1,131,760
Florida	2.51	0.01	2.53	2.46	8,550,911
New Mexico	2.51	0.01	2.61	2.29	825,021
New York	2.51	0.01	2.69	2.31	7,668,956
Oklahoma	2.51	0.01	2.60	2.35	1,542,780
Washington	2.51	0.01	2.65	2.27	3,020,558
Alabama	2.50	0.01	2.59	2.29	1,969,105
Arkansas	2.48	0.01	2.56	2.32	1,189,160
Delaware	2.48	0.01	2.54	2.33	396,209
Illinois	2.48	0.01	2.63	2.17	5,001,904
Connecticut	2.47	0.01	2.62	2.16	1,420,170
Indiana	2.47	0.01	2.60	2.18	2,681,537
Tennessee	2.47	0.01	2.55	2.31	2,768,743
Kansas	2.46	0.01	2.60	2.16	1,160,715
North Carolina	2.46	0.01	2.55	2.29	4,186,924
Colorado	2.45	0.01	2.57	2.19	2,325,576
Kentucky	2.45	0.01	2.54	2.26	1,791,991
Massachusetts	2.45	0.01	2.63	2.14	2,762,070
South Carolina	2.45	0.01	2.51	2.31	2,070,390
Minnesota	2.44	0.01	2.60	2.04	2,282,967
Nebraska	2.44	0.01	2.61	2.09	786,885
New Hampshire	2.44	0.01	2.59	2.05	551,186
Michigan	2.43	0.01	2.55	2.13	4,040,168
Oregon	2.43	0.01	2.56	2.22	1,701,548
Missouri	2.42	0.01	2.55	2.13	2,484,834
South Dakota	2.42	0.01	2.56	2.11	358,552
Pennsylvania	2.40	0.01	2.53	2.10	5,235,339
Rhode Island	2.40	0.01	2.58	2.10	436,902
West Virginia	2.40	0.01	2.48	2.18	721,448
Iowa	2.38	0.01	2.50	2.05	1,303,763
Montana	2.38	0.01	2.48	2.14	452,683
Ohio	2.38	0.01	2.51	2.12	4,829,571
Wyoming	2.38	0.01	2.48	2.10	238,176
Wisconsin	2.35	0.01	2.50	2.03	2,446,028
North Dakota	2.31	0.01	2.53	1.94	325,079
Vermont	2.30	0.01	2.43	1.95	269,466
Maine	2.27	0.01	2.38	1.96	589,085
District of Columbia	1.99	0.01	2.21	1.84	321,556

Image files

Download all

Figure 1

Average household size, US states

DownloadPDF Image CSV

Figure 2

Average household size, all published states

DownloadPDF Image CSV

Figure 3

Owner-occupied household size, all published states

DownloadPDF Image CSV

Figure 4

Owner size against renter size

DownloadPDF Image CSV

Table 1

All states

DownloadPDF Image CSV

About this data

Average household size is the number of people per occupied housing unit, including people who live alone. It is not the same as average family size, which excludes one-person households.
A state average describes occupied housing units in that state. These 52 figures cannot be averaged to produce a national figure.
The ACS published a United States average of 2.54 people per occupied housing unit on the same 2023 five-year estimates. That is a national figure, not the midpoint of the state list (2.47).
The Census published 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. None of the household-size estimates were suppressed.
Owner-occupied and renter-occupied averages come from the same table (B25010). Owner-occupied units have more people than renter-occupied units in every published area here.
Alaska and Hawaii appear in the ranking and table. On the map they are drawn in the usual insets.
Puerto Rico is listed in the ranking and table. It is not shaded on the continental state map.
Margins of error are the Census Bureau's 90 percent margins. None of these state-level household-size estimates used the ACS controlled-estimate sentinel, so every published margin is a real sampling error.
Occupied housing units are households. Group quarters such as college dormitories, nursing homes and prisons are not in this average.

In short

Average household size, US states

Average household size, all published states

Owner-occupied household size, all published states

Owner size against renter size

All states

About this data