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What factors influence the rate of owner occupied homes at the census tract level in Texas?
Homeownership is a critical path to economic stability and intergenerational wealth in the United States. We began with an interest in migrant homeownership, and decided to narrow our focus to Hispanic immigrants in the state of Texas.
Using American Community Survey Data, we found limited homeownership data, but robust data on owner occupancy. Using owner occupancy as a proxy for homeownership, we analyzed the relationship of owner occupancy to the following:
- median income
- median age
- majority urban or rural land use
- percent Hispanic population
- percent Hispanic foreign born population
Here’s the average distribution of Hispanic and Hispanic foreign born population percentages in Texan census tracts:
Key Takeaways
Holding all else constant, we find with a 95% confidence level that a 1% increase in the Hispanic population actually shows a 21% increase in owner occupancy rates. However, controlling for other variables, a 1% increase in the Hispanic foreign born population in a census tract indicates a 21% decrease in owner occupancy in that census tract. We could hypothesize that second generation Hispanic residents are more likely to own and live in their homes.
- With every 10 year increase in median age, we saw a 14% increase in owner occupancy at a 95% confidence level.
- With every $10K increase in median income, we saw a 5% increase in owner occupany at a 95% confidence level.
We also saw a significant difference between owner occupany rates among the Hispanic foreign born population in majority urban versus majority rural census tracts.
Our bivariate analysis found with a 95% confidence that there is a lower rate of owner occupany in majority urban census tracts at -16%. The interaction diagram below shows that stronger negative relationship in majority urban tracts, compared to a slight positive relationship in rural tracts.
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