Tampa Bay One of Top Metros for Households With Solo Homeowners

by John Egan

December 14, 2016

For thousands of residents of Tampa Bay and the adjoining North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro area, solo appears to be the way to go.

Among the 100 most populous metros in the U.S., North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton and Tampa-St. Petersburg are the leaders for the share of one-person households among homeowners, according to a LawnStarter analysis of newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

In North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, 28 percent of owner-occupied homes are inhabited by just one person, the LawnStarter analysis shows. That’s the highest rate among the country’s 100 largest metros. In Tampa-St. Petersburg, the figure is just a notch below its neighbor’s: 27.9 percent. That’s the second highest rate among the 100 largest metros.

The latest headcount puts the number of one-person households among owner-occupied homes at 205,738 in Tampa-St. Petersburg and 62,158 in North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, for a grand total of 267,896.

Retirees and Singles

Rich Doty, research demographer at the University of Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research, attributes the high percentage of one-person households in Tampa Bay and North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton to the large presence of retirees. In the Tampa Bay area, 24.6 percent of the population is 60 and over, compared with 20 percent nationally, the Census Bureau says. In North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, the 60-and-over crowd represents much more of the local population -- 37 percent. Across the state, 32 percent of residents 60 and over live alone, according to the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.

Brian Walsh, a Tampa Bay agent with national real estate brokerage Redfin, offers another reason for the abundance of one-person households in the region.

“We have a large number of corporate headquarters and business bases here, meaning we also have a large amount of working professionals in the area,” Walsh says. “These professionals may or may not be single, but I will say that many buyers intentionally step into mortgages and home ownership on their own, without a spouse or partner, because it can be a great investment even alone.”

He adds: “Even some couples decide to put a home in only one person’s name if one of them has credit issues or other financial considerations that make that a better option.”

LawnStarter based this analysis on 2011-15 estimates from the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The bureau published the data in December 2016.