Community development is shaped by population change, employment capacity, housing access, household resources, health security, and civic connection. The national measures below provide a broad U.S. baseline, with measurement periods ranging from 2010 through September 2023 and estimates as of January 1, 2024.
Contents
- Population and household change
- Employment and labor-market capacity
- Homeownership and housing supply
- Rental affordability and housing need
- Income, poverty, and health security
- Civic participation and community connection
Population and household change
The U.S. population was estimated at 336.11 million on January 1, 2024. Population growth has varied considerably across recent periods. From 2010 to 2016, the population grew by an average of 2.52 million people, or 0.8%, per year. Net in-migration averaged 1.15 million people annually and accounted for 46% of that growth, while net natural change averaged 1.37 million people and accounted for 54%.
Growth slowed from 2016 to 2020, averaging 1.86 million people, or 0.6%, each year. The national population then increased 0.5% from 2022 to 2023, with growth recorded in 8 of the 10 HUD regions. These figures describe national change; they do not indicate that every state, metropolitan area, or rural community grew at the same rate.
Age structure is another important community-development consideration. The median U.S. age rose from 37.2 years in 2010 to 39.0 years in 2022. People age 65 and older represented 17% of the population in 2022, compared with 13% in 2010. An older population can affect the demand for accessible housing, transportation, health services, caregiving, and opportunities for intergenerational participation.
These population and age measures come from the National Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis as of January 1, 2024 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Employment and labor-market capacity
The national labor market entered 2023 with substantial scale. U.S. nonfarm payrolls averaged 156.141 million jobs in 2023, an increase of 3.566 million jobs, or 2.3%, from 2022. The labor force averaged 167.12 million people, described by HUD as the largest average in the country’s history at that point. The unemployment rate averaged 3.6%, while the average number of unemployed people was 6.08 million.
Job growth was distributed unevenly across major sectors. Education and health services averaged 25.385 million jobs in 2023, up 1.035 million, or 4.3%, year over year. Leisure and hospitality averaged 16.586 million jobs, adding 751,000 positions, or 4.7%. Government averaged 22.723 million jobs, an increase of 552,000, or 2.5%.
Other sectors also expanded. Mining, logging, and construction averaged 8.606 million jobs in 2023, up 253,000, or 3.0%. Professional and business services averaged 22.944 million jobs, up 372,000, or 1.6%.
| Sector | 2023 average jobs | Change from 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Education and health services | 25.385 million | +1.035 million (4.3%) |
| Professional and business services | 22.944 million | +372,000 (1.6%) |
| Government | 22.723 million | +552,000 (2.5%) |
| Leisure and hospitality | 16.586 million | +751,000 (4.7%) |
| Mining, logging, and construction | 8.606 million | +253,000 (3.0%) |
For longer-term context, nonfarm payrolls increased by an average of 2.33 million jobs, or 1.7%, annually from 2011 through 2016. HUD projected average annual nonfarm payroll growth of 1.5% for the three years after January 1, 2024. That 2024–2027 figure is a forecast, not an observed outcome, and should not be treated as a measured 2026 result. The employment measures and forecast are reported in HUD’s National Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis as of January 1, 2024.
Homeownership and housing supply
Housing conditions influence whether workers, families, older adults, and newcomers can remain connected to a community. The U.S. homeownership rate was estimated at 63.1% on January 1, 2024. At that time, the country had an estimated 82.36 million owner households and 48.18 million renter households. The homeownership rate was 2.0 percentage points below its 2010 level of 65.1%.
Existing-home supply improved modestly between 2022 and 2023. The national supply of existing homes for sale reached 3.1 months in 2023, up from 2.7 months in 2022. Existing-home inventory reached 1.00 million units in December 2023, 14% above its December 2021 low. The U.S. sales housing vacancy rate was estimated at 1.5% in 2023.
Sales patterns differed between new and existing homes. New-home sales increased 4% in 2023 compared with 2022, while existing-home sales declined 19%. The median sales price for a new home decreased 7% in 2023, whereas the existing-home median increased 1%.
These are national estimates and market measures from HUD’s National Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis as of January 1, 2024. Local housing markets can differ substantially from the national pattern.
Rental affordability and housing need
Rental conditions show both increased vacancy and continuing affordability pressure. The national rental vacancy rate was estimated at 8.9% on January 1, 2024, up from 7.5% in 2020. The average apartment vacancy rate was 7.5% in 2023, 1.0 percentage point higher than in 2022. Average effective apartment rent was $1,646 in 2023, up 1% from a year earlier.
The rental housing stock includes multiple building types. Multifamily structures with two or more units housed 64% of occupied U.S. rental units in 2022. Attached and detached single-family homes housed another 31% of renters. Rental units permitted totaled 504,700 in 2023, down 18% from 2022.
Affordability measures point to a widening gap between renter resources and rent. The national Gross Rent Affordability Index fell from 96.8 in 2019 to 94.6 in 2022. Between 2019 and 2022, median renter-household income rose 16%, while median gross rent rose 19%. Because rent grew faster than renter income over that period, the national index moved downward.
Cost burdens were already substantial in the 2016–2020 period. Among U.S. renter households, 21.6% had moderate-to-high rent cost burdens, spending 31% to 50% of income on rent. Another 22.0% were severely rent cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of income on rent. These burden figures refer to 2016–2020, not to the later 2023 rent measures.
All housing and rental statistics in this section are national measures from HUD’s National Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis as of January 1, 2024. HUD’s January 1, 2024 values are estimates rather than direct observations of every local market.
Income, poverty, and health security
Real median U.S. household income was $80,610 in 2023, up 4.0% from $77,540 in 2022. Income growth was reported at both ends of the distribution: real household income increased 6.7% at the 10th percentile and 4.6% at the 90th percentile between 2022 and 2023.
Work-related earnings did not move identically for men and women. Real median earnings rose 3.0% for men working full-time, year-round and 1.5% for women in 2023. The female-to-male median earnings ratio for full-time, year-round workers was 82.7% in 2023, down from 84.0% in 2022.
National poverty measures show continuing economic insecurity. The official U.S. poverty rate was 11.1% in 2023, representing 36.8 million people. The weighted-average official poverty threshold for a four-person family was $30,900. The Supplemental Poverty Measure rate was 12.9% in 2023, up 0.5 percentage point from 2022, and the Supplemental Poverty Measure child poverty rate was 13.7%, up 1.3 percentage points.
Public programs affected measured poverty outcomes. Social Security moved 27.6 million people out of Supplemental Poverty Measure poverty in 2023. This measure is distinct from the official poverty rate and includes additional income and expense considerations.
Health coverage is another part of household security. Health insurance covered 92.0% of the U.S. population, or 305.2 million people, for some or all of 2023. Private health insurance covered 65.4% of people, while public coverage covered 36.3%. Employment-based insurance covered 53.7%, making it the largest named coverage subtype.
Income and poverty figures are CPS ASEC estimates for calendar year 2023, as reported in the Census Bureau’s Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2023. Coverage figures are from the Census Bureau’s Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2023, and “covered” means insured for some or all of the year.
Civic participation and community connection
Community development also depends on participation beyond formal economic measures. More than 28% of Americans, or 75.7 million people, formally volunteered through an organization between September 2022 and September 2023. Half of formal volunteers served 24 hours or more during that period.
The total contribution was substantial: formal volunteers collectively served an estimated 4.99 billion hours, with an estimated economic value of more than $167.2 billion, between September 2022 and September 2023. Eighteen percent of formal volunteers served completely or partially online in the 2023 civic-engagement measure.
Organizational membership and giving provide additional measures of connection. One in four Americans, or more than 62.9 million people, belonged to an organization in the 2023 civic-engagement measure. Seven percent of Americans, or 17.7 million people, reported giving more than $25 to a nonpolitical group in the September 2022–September 2023 measure.
The national formal-volunteering rate in the 2023 measure was 5 percentage points above the historic low recorded in 2021. These figures describe civic activity during the September 2022–September 2023 survey window, not a calendar-year 2023 count. They are reported in AmeriCorps’ Volunteering and Civic Life in America: Research Summary.