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Narrative

Proportions of Owners and Renters Among St. Louis County Householders
• Table 1 reports the number of St. Louis County households that occupy a house owned by the occupants. Table 2 reports the number of households that are rented by the occupants. Both tables report those data for householders in three different age cohorts: 55-64, 65-74 and 75 and older. The total number of St. Louis County households in each age group can be obtained by adding the number of owners and renters. This addition shows that in the 55-64 age group there are 48,968 households occupied by the owner and 7,188 in which the occupants are renters giving a total of 56,166 households. Of those, 87 percent are occupied by owners and 13 percent by renters.
• Moving to the next age group, the same procedure used above shows 47,197 households occupied by householders in the 65-74 age range. Of that total, 41,304 are occupied by owners (87.5 percent) and 5,893 are residing in rented dwellings (12.5 percent). Among the householders in the 75 and older age group, 34,965 own the dwelling they occupy (76.4 percent) and 10,804 (23.6 percent) are renting their residence.
• The proportion of owner-occupants in each age group in St. Louis County is only slightly higher than the proportions for the state of Missouri. Statewide, 83.6 in the 55-64 age group were owners, 83.7 percent were owners in the 65-74 age group and 74.1 percent were owners in the 75 and older age group.

Variations in Home Ownership Among St. Louis County Neighborhood Areas
• Owner occupied housing is clearly the norm throughout most of St. Louis County. Table 1 shows that, among those households headed by a person in the 55-64 age cohort, more than 85 percent of the housing units are owned by the occupants in 23 of the 37 neighborhood areas. The lowest percent of home ownership within the 55-64 age group is still relatively high. The lowest percent home ownership is 68 percent in the Normandy Area. Next among the lowest are four areas with either 72 or 73 percent home ownership. Those areas are Jennings, Moline, Maplewood/Richmond Heights and Spanish Lake.
• Among the housing units occupied by a household whose head is between 65 and 74years of age, there are also 23 neighborhood areas in which home ownership is greater than 85 percent. There are only six areas in which home ownership is less than 80 percent. The lowest percentage among these is the University City/Olivette South Area with ownership of only 65 percent. Following is Normandy with home ownership of 73 percent and Spanish Lake in which 75 percent of occupants owned their home.
• Among those housing units occupied by a head of household age 75 and older, there are only eight areas in which home ownership is greater than 85 percent. However, 22 of neighborhood areas have an owner occupancy rate of between 70 percent and 85 percent. There are six areas in which between 60 and 70 percent occupants own their housing unit. These six areas are dispersed throughout the county.

St. Louis County Neighborhood Variations in Rental of Occupied Housing
• Among households whose head is between 55 and 64 years of age, there is rather significant variation among the neighborhood areas in percent of occupants who are renting their home. Table 2 shows there are 18 areas in which fewer than 10 percent are renting their home. Generally, home rental is less prevalent among the more affluent neighborhood areas. There are five neighborhood areas in which more than 25 percent of housing units are rented. Highest among these is Normandy with 32 percent renting their housing, followed by Maplewood/Richmond Heights with 28 percent renters, Jennings with 27 percent and Spanish Lake and Moline with 26 percent each.
• The rate of housing rental is quite similar for the group whose household head is between 65 and 74. In this age group of housing occupants, there are 14 neighborhood areas in which fewer than 10 percent of the households are rented. There are only three neighborhood areas among this age group in which more than 25 percent are renting their housing. The highest rental percentage is in University City/Olivette South with 34 percent rental, followed by Normandy with 27 percent and Spanish Lake with 25 percent.
• The proportion of residents renting their housing increases with the age of the household head. In the 75 and older age group, there were neighborhood areas in which more than 25 percent of the households were renting their housing. The highest rental rate among the areas was in West Chesterfield with 57 percent rental. There were three additional areas in which more than 35 percent of households were renting their dwelling. These included University City/Olivette South with 38 percent, Black Jack with 36 percent and Parkway North with 35 percent. There were only four areas in which fewer than 10 percent of the households were renting their home. The four are: Berkeley/Airport, Ferguson and Jamestown each with 9 percent renters and Overland with 8 percent renters.

The Decade in Which Occupied Housing Was Constructed
• Table 3 shows, by decade, when the housing units occupied at the time of the 2000 Census were constructed. Table 3 shows in each column the number of houses that are still occupied which were built during each decade. The table also shows the neighborhood area in which new housing construction was taking place in each decade going back to 1940. The last column in the table shows the percent of housing in each neighborhood area that was constructed prior to 1940. The neighborhood location of those houses is shown on Map 4. The most densely populated areas at that time were University City/Olivette South in which 38.7 percent of current housing was constructed prior to 1940, followed by Maplewood/Richmond Heights with 36.2 percent, Webster Groves with 35.1 percent and Ladue/Clayton with 33.0 percent. Indicative of development since that time there are 20 current neighborhood areas in which less than 5 percent of all existing housing was in place prior to 1940.
• Table 3 shows that the most significant St. Louis County home construction was occurring during 1940-1959 when 27.7 percent of current occupied housing was constructed. From 1960-1969 when 21.4 percent was constructed and 1970-1979 when 18.3 percent was constructed. Only 22.7 percent of existing homes were constructed from 1980 to 2000. As shown on Map 6 the most new construction occurred from 1995-2000 in the southwest corner of the county. The greatest concentrations of new construction during those five years were in the West Chesterfield, Southwest, and South Ballwin/Manchester Areas in which 23.1 percent, 21.9 percent and 11.9 percent of houses respectively were built from 1995-2000. However, if houses constructed from 1990-1994 in those three areas are added, the totals increase to 43.4 percent in West Chesterfield, 39.9 percent in Southwest and 26.5 percent in South Ballwin/Manchester.
• Table 3 also shows there are many neighborhood areas whose housing stock has been quite stable for the past decade and some areas that have had few additions during the past two decades and longer. There were 19 areas in which there was less than a 5 percent addition to housing stock during the 1990s. There were 13 areas in which there has been less than a 10 percent addition to housing stock since 1980s. While many of those areas are relatively low income, there are also several that are relatively high income. For example, areas such as Ladue/Clayton and Webster Groves have had less than a 10 percent addition to owner occupied housing since 1980.

Maps

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Tables

Occupied Housing Units by Ownership by Age Group of Householder, 2000	HTML	PDF
Occupied Housing Units by Renter Status by Age Group of Householder, 2000	HTML	PDF
Occupied Housing Units by Year Structure Built, 2000	HTML	PDF

Graphics

• Percent of Population Age 75 and Older that are Homeowners
• Percent of Population Age 75 and Older that are Renters