The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
today released new American Housing Survey (AHS) data on costs and other housing characteristics for 13 metropolitan areas. These areas are: Atlanta; Cleveland; Denver; Hartford, Conn.; Indianapolis; Memphis, Tenn.; New Orleans; Oklahoma City; Pittsburgh; Sacramento, Calif.; San Antonio; Seattle; and St. Louis. The AHS is conducted by the Census Bureau and sponsored by HUD.

     The AHS data for each of these metropolitan areas include 2004 statistics on housing topics.
Among these are reasons for owning an extra home, the presence of air-conditioning and other equipment, amenities and deficiencies, heating fuels used, size of homes, satisfaction with public transportation and neighborhood police protection and reasons for moving. Also included is data on the existence of trails, private beaches and daycare centers in the community.

     Some of the findings are:

1. Median monthly housing costs in 2004 totaled $694 for homeowners and $593 for renters in the St. Louis metropolitan area. These costs amounted to 17 percent of the owners’ and 27 percent of the renters’ income.

2. On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the highest, 28 percent of homeowners in the Atlanta metropolitan area rated their neighborhoods a “10.”

3. In the Sacramento, Calif., metropolitan area, 24 percent of all workers usually worked at home at some point during a typical week; about the same percent of those in the Seattle metropolitan area did so. Some of these workers were teleworking.

4. In the San Antonio metropolitan area, 86 percent of homes had central air-conditioning; the same was true of 30 percent of those in the Hartford, Conn., metropolitan area.

5. In the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, 20 percent of the residents who moved in the past year cited “convenient to job” as the main reason (among 10 possible reasons) for their choice of present neighborhood.

6. In the New Orleans metropolitan area, 7 percent of homeowners had a second mortgage on their home, while 43 percent owned their home mortgage-free.

7. Median home value in the Memphis, Tenn., metropolitan area totaled $110,014.

8. About 20 percent of homeowners in the Cleveland metropolitan area reported crime in their neighborhoods. In the Denver area, the corresponding proportion was 23 percent.

9. Among householders in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, 63 percent lived less than
   one mile from neighborhood shopping. Meanwhile 2 percent used public transportation at least once a week.

10. The predominant house heating fuel in the Indianapolis metropolitan area was piped gas, used by 64 percent of occupied units.

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Data are from the 2004 American Housing Survey. Statistics from surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.