Average Home Size in the USA — How Big of a House Do I Really Need?

The growing trend of smaller homes

The average home size in the U.S. is large by international standards, which isn’t surprising given the American love for bigger is better—just look at the popularity of SUVs.

But times are changing. The average size of homes in the U.S. is shrinking. Read on to explore what’s driving this shift, and to decide for yourself what size home best suits your needs.

In this article (Skip to...)

• Current average home size in the USA
• Why American homes are getting smaller
• How to calculate what size home you need
• The bottom line

Current average home size in the USA

American’s love of large homes isn’t new. More than 20 years ago (2002), Demographia looked at the average square footage of houses in 20 advanced economies. And it found that only Australians were building larger homes than Americans.

Indeed, among the European nations surveyed, all but one had an average square footage that was half or less than the average home size in the USA.

Recent trends

However, the median home size (square footage) in America began to shrink after reaching its peak in 2015 when it was just short of 2,500 square feet. By January 2025, that was 1,792 sq. ft.

Realtor.com, Housing Inventory: Median Home Size in Square Feet in the United States [MEDSQUFEEUS], retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

You can see the shrinkage in newly constructed homes, too. The Census Bureau reckons that, in 2021, the average new home had 2,532 sq. ft. By the third quarter of 2024, that had declined to 2,384 sq. ft.

Of course, the current U.S. average of 1,792 square feet is still enormous by international standards. A British government website says that “The average total floor area of a dwelling was 94m²" in the UK in 2018-19, the last year the data was collected. Convert those square meters into square feet and you’re looking at 1,012 sq. ft.

With each British home occupied by an average of 2.36 people, that’s an average of 429 square feet per person. By contrast, the average American home contained 2.51 people (per Census Bureau), giving each American 714 sq. ft. to luxuriate in.

Why American homes are getting smaller

During and since the Covid pandemic, Americans (and those in almost every other country) have endured a period of sharply rising prices, stretching many household budgets to the limit. And we learned that certain prices were especially volatile.

The recent implementation of tariffs by the current administration has been met with strong opposition from the National Association of Home Builders. These tariffs, particularly on lumber, have driven up the costs of heating and cooling homes, constructing new properties, and maintaining or improving existing ones. Additionally, labor costs in construction have surged.

As a result, new homes are becoming considerably more expensive, and many Americans may soon find that smaller homes are their only affordable option.

However, smaller homes offer their own set of benefits. They are more affordable to maintain and heat, and they require less cleaning time and fewer items of furniture.

How to calculate what size home you need

To work out whether you need a place that’s bigger or smaller than the average home size in the USA, you need to establish what you want and need from your property. Ask yourself:

1. How big a family do I have?
2. Over the next several years, might I have more kids or need to accommodate elderly parents or inlaws?
3. Can my kids double up or do I want them to have rooms of their own?
4. Do I or my spouse or partner work from home and need a home office (or two)?
5. If I need to be in a particular neighborhood or area, what’s the range of home sizes available?
6. Can I get by without spaces such as a man or woman cave, hobby room, games room, playroom, sauna, steam room, gym, home theater, dedicated wine-tasting room, basement bowling alley, basketball court, and the like?

That last one may sound silly but some money-no-object homes have all those and more. When this article was written, there was a 50,000 sq. ft. home on the market in Los Angeles, Calif. with an asking price of $195 million.

Calculating your needs

We said earlier that the average Brit lives in 429 sq. ft. per person, which many of us would find cramped. And the average American gets 714 sq. ft., which is quite a lot. But suppose we were to split the difference and aim for 570 square feet per person.

On that basis, you’d need the following areas to live comfortably:

We said you’d need those areas to live comfortably. But that depends on your needs and philosophy.

Plenty of people live perfectly happily in “tiny homes,” which “are generally designated as being under 600 square feet, but the average size of a tiny house for sale in the U.S. is actually just 225 square feet,” according to RubyHome.

You get to decide what makes you comfortable. Just remember to anticipate any likely changes in the number of people who will be living with you. And to take into account any special needs you have, for example, an office if you work from home or an extra guest room.

Average home size in the USA: The bottom line

The average home size in the USA is shrinking. It’s up to you whether you embrace that or view it with concern.

For most of us, the size of our homes is constrained by our bank accounts. But we also get to make choices.

And you might wish to take into account the running costs and time eaten up by a bigger-than-necessary house. If you’re so inclined, you might also consider the environmental impact of the construction, heating and cooling of oversized homes.