Which Is the Larger Number: Apartments or Houses?

When people ask whether there are more apartments or houses, the answer depends on how the words are defined. In everyday conversation, a “house” usually means a single-family home, while an “apartment” usually means a housing unit inside a building with two or more units. Using that practical definition, houses are the larger category in the United States.

The reason is that single-family homes make up the biggest share of the American housing stock. Census data tracks housing by “units in structure,” separating one-unit detached homes, one-unit attached homes, buildings with two or more units, mobile homes, and other types of living quarters. This method is useful because it counts housing units, not just buildings. A large apartment building may be one building, but it can contain dozens or hundreds of separate apartments.

Recent national housing estimates also show that the United States has roughly 149 million total housing units as of early 2026. That total includes houses, apartments, mobile homes, and other units. Within that broad total, single-family homes remain the dominant form of housing, while apartments and other multifamily units make up a smaller but very important share, especially in cities and high-cost regions.

Why Houses Outnumber Apartments

There are several reasons houses outnumber apartments. First, much of the United States developed around lower-density neighborhoods, especially suburbs, where single-family homes are common. Second, many zoning rules historically favored detached houses over apartment buildings. Third, homeownership has long been treated as a major financial and cultural goal, encouraging construction of single-family homes across the country.

Apartments, however, are still a major part of the housing picture. Multifamily buildings are especially important for renters, students, older adults, young workers, and people who want to live near jobs, schools, transit, and services. In many urban areas, apartments may be more visible than houses because they are concentrated in taller or denser buildings.

Counting Can Be Confusing

The comparison can become confusing because a “house” and an “apartment” are not always counted the same way. If someone counts buildings, one apartment building may seem like one item. But if someone counts housing units, each apartment inside that building counts separately. For a fair comparison, housing researchers usually compare housing units by structure type.

That distinction matters. A neighborhood with ten apartment buildings could contain more homes for people than a neighborhood with fifty detached houses, depending on the number of units in each apartment building. Nationally, though, single-family houses still represent the larger number of housing units.

Conclusion

Overall, houses are the larger number when compared with apartments in the United States, especially when “houses” means single-family homes and “apartments” means units in multifamily buildings. Apartments remain essential because they provide many people with more flexible and often more affordable housing options, but the national housing stock is still led by single-family houses.

Internet References

U.S. Census Bureau, “National, State, and County Housing Unit Totals: 2020–2025,” Census.gov, May 2026.

U.S. Census Bureau, “Housing,” Census.gov.

Census Reporter, “Table B25024: Units in Structure.”

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRED, “Housing Inventory Estimate: Total Housing Units in the United States,” sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024.”