12 Million Baby Boomers Rent — Here's Where It's Most Common [LendingTree Report]

Baby boomers are commonly thought to have had an easier path to homeownership than subsequent generations. Yet, a significant number of boomers are renters today.  We analyzed the latest housing data to determine how many baby boomers rent their homes across the 100 largest U.S. metros. We also looked at how those numbers have changed over time to reveal how renting trends among boomers have shifted as they've gotten older. Here's what we found:  12 million baby boomers — or 18.6% of the generation — rent. That’s far lower than Gen Z (49%), millennials (41%), or Gen X (26%). More than half of boomer renters (55%) are women. Nearly 1 in 3 baby boomers (32.3%) rent in New York and Los Angeles — the highest by metro. Las Vegas ranks third, with 26.5% of baby boomers renting. Boomers in Ogden, Utah, are least likely to rent (11%), followed by Palm Bay, FL (11.5%), and Provo, Utah (11.8%). Four of the 10 lowest boomer rental rates are in Florida. Nationally, boomer renting has dipped nearly 9% since 2018, falling from 20.5% to 18.6%. The biggest declines were in Cape Coral, FL (–30.8%), North Port, FL (–29.4%), and Stockton, CA (–28.4%), while New Haven, CT (+11.2%), Bridgeport, CT (+5.5%), and Omaha, NE (+3.4%) saw the biggest gains. You can check out the full report here: https://www.lendingtree.com/home/mortgage/baby-boomer-rent-study/ LendingTree's Chief Consumer Finance Analyst, Matt Schulz, had this to say: “I think a lot of boomers rent simply because of the convenience. They want to be able to call someone if the pipes burst or if the air conditioning goes out. They don’t want to mess with mowing the lawn and pulling weeds. Renting makes a lot of things in life easier.”