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MANUFACTURED HOUSING IN
NONMETROPOLITAN AREAS: © Housing Assistance Council, 1996 Permission is granted ONLY to nonprofit community-based organizations to reproduce and/or adapt this document, and only for their own use. DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLDS LIVING IN MOBILE HOMES Personal Characteristics American Housing Survey data shows that in 1993 households living in mobile homes in nonmetropolitan areas were more likely to be younger, to have children, to have larger households, and to have less education than other nonmetropolitan households or households living in mobile homes in metropolitan areas. The median age of the nonmetropolitan householders in mobile homes, 44, was six years younger than that of nonmetropolitan householders in other types of units, and also lower than the median ages of householders in mobile homes in central cities and suburban areas. Not surprisingly, therefore, more nonmetro mobile home households included young children: 41 percent had children under 18, compared to 36 percent of nonmetro households in non-mobile units, 28 percent of central city mobile home households, and 38 percent of suburban mobile home households. The median household size for nonmetro mobile home households (2.3 persons) was slightly higher than that for nonmetropolitan households in other types of units and that for metro mobile home occupants. Also, about a third of nonmetro mobile home households had less than four years of high school education, compared to about a quarter for nonmetro non-mobile home households and one-sixth for central city mobile home households (see Table 1). Table 1. Personal Characteristics
Only about one in four nonmetro mobile homes was occupied by a single-person household. Over half of those single-person households were women, and half of those were women older than 65 years (see Figure 5). Single-person households were found more often in central city and suburban mobile homes than in nonmetropolitan areas. Similarly, only one in four nonmetropolitan households living in mobile homes had someone over 65 in the household, fewer than other nonmetropolitan households or mobile home households in metropolitan areas. Older persons often prefer to age in place; most in nonmetro areas are owners of conventional houses who have lived in their current house for many years and have fully paid their mortgage.7 Figure 5. Single-Person Households
Despite their relative youth and (as discussed below) their low incomes, nonmetro householders in mobile homes were more likely to own their own homes than were nonmetro householders in other types of units. Nearly four out of five owned their units, compared to 72 percent of nonmetro householders occupying non-mobile home units (see Figure 6). Those who did own their mobile homes did not necessarily own the land on which the unit was placed, however; some of the problems that may arise from ownership of mobile homes on rented land are discussed in more detail below. The race and ethnicity of nonmetro mobile home residents in 1993 were also different from those of non-mobile home residents in nonmetro areas and mobile home residents in metro areas.8 As shown in Table 2, Black- and Hispanic-headed households occupied disproportionately few mobile homes in the U.S. as a whole, as well as in central cities and suburban areas. In nonmetropolitan areas, however, Black- and Hispanic-headed households comprised about the same proportion of mobile home residents as of all households in non-mobile units. This could reflect the fact that mobile homes are a larger proportion of the housing stock in nonmetro areas than elsewhere, so they are more available to minorities (as to all residents) in nonmetro areas than in central cities and suburbs. Figure 6. Tenure
This finding could also be distorted by the effects of sample size; because the AHS sample of Black- and Hispanic-headed households was relatively small, the range of possible error is wide. As previously noted, caution should be exercised when interpreting comparisons if the figures are based on small numbers of cases and if the differences between the two figures are small. The AHS sample was too small to indicate mobile home occupancy by other minority groups. (Minorities other than Blacks and Hispanics -- including Native Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and others -- make up smaller proportions of the U.S. population.) Other sources do show that mobile homes were used to supplement chronically short supplies of housing on (mostly rural) Indian reservations. The 1990 U.S. Census reported that mobile homes made up about 12 percent of the housing units on American Indian reservations and trust lands, tribal jurisdiction statistical areas, tribal designated areas, and Alaskan native villages, although many of the residents of those areas were not American Indians. In the Navajo Nation (which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and whose residents were 94 percent American Indian) mobile homes were 15 percent of the housing stock.9 Table 2. Race/Ethnicity8 (percentages of all units within geographical division)
Economic Characteristics Since nonmetro households living in mobile homes tended to be younger and less well educated than other nonmetro households or other mobile home residents, and since (as discussed below) mobile homes generally cost less than other housing options, it is not surprising that nonmetro households occupying mobile homes also had lower incomes, higher poverty rates, and less savings than others. In 1993, the median income of nonmetropolitan households living in mobile homes was $18,746, fully 27 percent lower than that of nonmetropolitan households living in other units ($25,802). The proportions of households with incomes under $5,000 and under $10,000 were similar for nonmetro residents of mobile homes and non-mobile units, but substantially higher proportions of mobile home resident households earned less than $20,000 (54 percent, compared to 39 percent in non-mobile units) or less than $30,000 (73 percent, compared to 58 percent in non-mobile units), as shown in Table 3. Table 3. Selected Income Characteristics
Similarly, while it was almost as common for those living in non-mobile home nonmetro units to have incomes at 50 percent of poverty-level income as it was for those in mobile homes, nonmetro households in mobile homes were more likely to have incomes below poverty or between 100 and 150 percent of poverty. These differences are consistent with the facts that mobile homes cost less to purchase than conventional units (as discussed below), and that more nonmetro households living in mobile homes own their units than do nonmetro households in conventional units. Households with a desire for homeownership but incomes too low to afford conventional homes may choose to purchase mobile homes. (Households of all income levels occupy mobile homes, of course, although only 7 percent of nonmetro mobile home households had incomes in excess of $50,000.) Nonmetro households living in mobile homes had somewhat different sources of income than others, as demonstrated in Table 3. They were more likely to have wage income and less likely to have income from Social Security or a pension than were nonmetro households in other types of housing units or mobile home residents in central cities or suburbs, but also more likely to receive food stamps. These differences correspond to nonmetro mobile home residents' relative youth and greater likelihood of having children. Nonmetro households living in mobile homes were also as likely to be cost burdened -- paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing -- than other nonmetro households, although mobile home residents in central cities and suburbs suffered cost burden even more often. This issue is discussed in the section below on "Costs of Manufactured/Mobile Homes."
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