Articles and Updates

Census Finds Over 16% of Arizona's Housing Units Vacant

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"The HUD/USPS survey recorded roughly 130,000 vacant units in Arizona’s six metro areas, compared to over 401,000 counted by the 2010 Census."

March 14, 2011

The U. S. Census Bureau found 463,536 vacant housing units statewide as of April 2010. That’s 16.3% of the housing stock. Highest vacancy rates were found in La Paz County at 42.7%, followed by Navajo 37.4%, Gila 32.7%, and Apache 30.0%. Pima County recorded the lowest at 11.9%. Maricopa County was 13.9% and Pinal 21.1% (see Table 1).

Almost half of the vacant units (227,000) were in Maricopa County. Pima County had 52,249, and Pinal County 33,632.

During the past decade, Arizona’s housing stock grew by more than 655,000 units, a percentage increase of nearly 30%. The three “Sun Corridor” counties accounted for 82.6% of the new units. Maricopa County added 389,048, Pinal County 78,068, and Pima County 74,172.

The Census found three times the number of vacant units than reported by HUD, which bases its estimates on U. S. Postal Service surveys. The USPS counts a housing unit as vacant if no mail has been delivered in the past 90 days (the unit must also have been lived in and must be habitable). This survey recorded roughly 130,000 vacant units in Arizona’s six metro areas, compared to over 401,000 counted by the Census (see Table 2 below).

Table 1: Vacant Housing Units, U.S. Census, 2000 and 2010

	2000	2010	2000	2010	2000	2010
	Total Housing Units	Total Housing Units	Vacant Units	Vacant Units	% Vacant	% Vacant
Arizona	2,189,189	2,844,526	287,862	463,536	15.1	16.3
Apache	31,621	32,514	11,650	9,743	58.3	30.0
Cochise	51,126	59,041	7,233	8,176	16.5	13.8
Coconino	53,443	63,321	12,995	16,610	32.1	26.2
Gila	28,189	32,698	8,049	10,698	40.0	32.7
Graham	11,430	12,980	1,314	1,860	13.0	14.3
Greenlee	3,744	4,372	627	1,184	20.1	27.1
La Paz	15,133	16,049	6,771	6,851	81.0	42.7
Maricopa	1,250,231	1,639,279	117,345	227,696	10.4	13.9
Mohave	80,062	110,911	17,253	28,372	27.5	25.6
Navajo	47,413	56,938	17,370	21,280	57.8	37.4
Pima	366,737	440,909	34,387	52,249	10.3	11.9
Pinal	81,154	159,222	19,790	33,632	32.3	21.1
Santa Cruz	13,036	18,010	1,227	2,573	10.4	14.3
Yavapai	81,730	110,432	11,559	19,529	16.5	17.7
Yuma	74,140	87,850	20,292	23,083	37.7	26.3

Table 2: Metro Residential Vacancy Counts, Census and HUD/USPS Compared

MSA	Total Addresses
MSA	HUD/USPS	Census 2010	difference
Flagstaff	47,006	63,321	(16,315)	Census lists fewer addresses for Phoenix and Tucson but more addresses for the other metro areas.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman	99,884	110,911	(11,027)
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	1,861,080	1,798,501	62,579
Prescott	97,076	110,432	(13,356)
Tucson	454,038	440,909	13,129
Yuma	69,618	87,850	(18,232)
AZ Metros	2,628,702	2,611,924	16,778
MSA	Vacant Addresses
MSA	HUD/USPS	Census 2010	difference
Flagstaff	841	16,610	(15,769)	Census finds 3 times as many vacant addresses than found by HUD/USPS.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman	7,067	28,372	(21,305)
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	91,805	261,328	(169,523)
Prescott	1,386	19,529	(18,143)
Tucson	26,861	52,249	(25,388)
Yuma	1,944	23,083	(21,139)
AZ Metros	129,904	401,171	(271,267)
MSA	Vacancy Rate
MSA	HUD/USPS	Census 2010	difference
Flagstaff	1.79%	26.20%	-24.41%	Statewide vacancy rate is 15.4% according to the 2010 Census, rather than 4.9% reported by HUD/USPS.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman	7.08%	25.58%	-18.51%
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	4.93%	14.53%	-9.60%
Prescott	1.43%	17.68%	-16.26%
Tucson	5.92%	11.85%	-5.93%
Yuma	2.79%	26.28%	-23.48%
AZ Metros	4.94%	15.36%	-10.42%

Sources: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) based on U.S. Postal Service data (USPS), U.S. Census Bureau, and the Economic and Business Research Center in the Eller College of Management.

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