One in three households in Virginia are renter households. Not all households are the same, and the kind of housing renters require is directly dependent on the type of household. It is essential to understand the household types of the renter population to identify how many of them would be potential home buyers soon or how many may be coming into the rental market. Read on to find out the household types of the renter population in various Virginia MSAs, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

As seen in Figure 1, the highest share of renter population, about 40%, are people living by themselves. The second highest share of renter population is made up of married couples with no kids at 13%, closely followed by individuals living with someone (most likely roommates) at about 12%.

Blacksburg-Christiansburg, VA Metro Area: In Blacksburg, individuals living with someone make up the highest share of the renter population. Virginia Tech’s presence in the area explains this trend as students, who make up a large chunk of the local population, tend to live with roommates. This is followed by householders living alone and married couples with no kids.

Charlottesville, VA Metro Area: Like Blacksburg, Charlottesville’s demographic distribution is impacted by the presence of a major public university, University of Virginia. This explains why nonfamily householders living alone and nonfamily householders living with someone else make up more than 60% of the renter population. This is followed by married couples with no kids.

Harrisonburg, VA Metro Area: The renter population in Harrisonburg is dominated by individuals living alone–every one in three renter households. This is followed by nonfamily householders living with someone else and married couples with kids under the age of 18.

Lynchburg, VA Metro Area: The top three renter household types in the Lynchburg area are nonfamily householders living alone, nonfamily householders living with someone else, and married couples with no kids.

Richmond, VA Metro Area: Forty percent of the renter population in the Richmond metro area are nonfamily householders living alone. The second largest share of this area’s renter population is made up of female householders living with their children under the age of 18. Individuals living with someone else make up the third largest share of the renter population in Virginia.

Roanoke, VA Metro Area: The household type distribution of the renter population in the Roanoke area is the same as that of the Richmond metro area.

Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC Metro Area:  Individuals living alone make up the largest share of the renter population in the Virginia Beach metro area. This is followed by female householders with kids and married couples with no kids.

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area:  The Washington DC metro area is a job market hub, and many young college graduates move to the area to take advantage of its professional opportunities. This may explain why about 42% of the renter population in this area is made up of nonfamily householders living by themselves. The second highest share of renter population consists of married couples with kids followed by nonfamily householders living with someone else.

Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area: Almost 30% of the renter population in the Winchester Metro area are nonfamily householders living alone. Married couple families with no children and nonfamily householders living with someone else are the next two largest groups of the renter population in the area.

For more information on housing, demographic and economic trends in Virginia, be sure to check out Virginia REALTORS® other Economic Insights blogs and our Data page.