The vast majority of Americans say finding affordable housing in the U.S. is either very difficult (47%) or somewhat difficult (40%).
What you need to know about Americans' views on housing affordability, as of the December 5 - 8, 2025 Economist / YouGov Poll:
- Besides seeing affordable housing as difficult nationwide, most Americans also see it as difficult in their local communities, where 39% say it's very difficult for families to find affordable housing and 39% say it's somewhat difficult
- Majorities who live in urban, suburban, and rural areas say finding affordable housing is very or somewhat difficult in their communities
- Within all of the following groups, majorities say affordable housing is very or somewhat difficult to find: Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, and Americans who are 18 to 29, 30 to 44, 45 to 64, and 65 and older
- The Economist and YouGov asked Americans how important eight different factors are in making housing expensive. Majorities say that interest rates (54%) and the cost of building materials (53%) are very important factors in housing costs, while 47% say that developers maximizing profits is very important
- Smaller shares say that building regulations (32%), zoning restrictions (27%), immigration (27%), real estate commissions (24%), and short-term rentals (22%) are very important factors
- Immigration is the only one of the eight factors with significant shares of Americans saying it's not an important contributor to housing costs: 35% say immigration is either not very important (17%) or not at all important (18%) in making housing expensive
- Among Republicans, 70% say immigration is a very or somewhat important factor and 13% say it's not very important or not at all important
- Among Democrats, 29% say it's very or somewhat important and 57% say it's not very or not at all important
- The 40-point difference between Democrats and Republicans on the role of immigration in housing costs dwarfs the partisan splits on the other seven issues, none of which has more than a 10-point difference between the shares of the two parties saying each issue is very or somewhat important
Learn more about this poll here.
Image: Getty (Joe Raedle / Staff)
