Which Areas Will Spend the Most on Home Improvements This Year?
We talk a lot at Porch about how much money is spent on home improvements, but the National Association of Home Builders' estimates of 2014 spending on improvements by zip code is a good breakdown of just how much money is being spent, even all the way down to your local neighborhood.
According to the NAHB, the average zip code in America will see over $5 million spent on home improvement this year. That’s a lot of new roofs, landscaping, and remodels.
On average, total spending on improvements in a zip code is projected to be about $5.1 million in 2014. The top 5 total-spending zip codes are all in Maryland, Texas, or Illinois. Each of these top 5 zips contains at least 15,000 owner-occupied homes and home owners who average at least $145,000 in income and are 60 percent or more college educated. Most of these top 5 zips don’t have an unusually large share of homes in the key vintage for remodeling (homes built from 1960 to 1979), except for the zip at the very top of the list—#20854 in Maryland, a close-in suburb of Washington DC. 20854 is the only zip where over $60 million in spending on improvements is projected for 2014, and over half the owner-occupied homes in that zip were built 1960-1979.
See NAHB’s heat map of average remodeling spend per home by zip code. Lots of heavy activity in the northeast, Colorado, SoCal, and San Francisco Bay Area.
Here’s the NAHB’s list for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Read on to see how I adjusted these figures for cost-of-living.
NAHB 2014 Spending Projections by State
| RANK | STATE | HOMES | SPENDING (M) | PER HOME |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 110,668 | $299.6 | $2,707 |
| 2 | Connecticut | 913,482 | $1,961.7 | $2,147 |
| 3 | New Jersey | 2,099,380 | $4,471.1 | $2,130 |
| 4 | Maryland | 1,459,393 | $3,106.4 | $2,129 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | 1,583,170 | $3,351.2 | $2,117 |
| 6 | California | 6,863,765 | $14,053.1 | $2,047 |
| 7 | Hawaii | 260,435 | $529.5 | $2,033 |
| 8 | Colorado | 1,320,302 | $2,659.0 | $2,014 |
| 9 | Virginia | 2,059,305 | $4,136.8 | $2,009 |
| 10 | Alaska | 161,691 | $315.9 | $1,954 |
| 11 | New Hampshire | 372,053 | $723.4 | $1,944 |
| 12 | New York | 3,894,151 | $7,569.7 | $1,944 |
| 13 | Washington | 1,690,642 | $3,203.4 | $1,895 |
| 14 | Rhode Island | 248,947 | $470.3 | $1,889 |
| 15 | Minnesota | 1,536,021 | $2,840.5 | $1,849 |
| 16 | Vermont | 185,244 | $340.5 | $1,838 |
| 17 | Illinois | 3,195,820 | $5,866.9 | $1,836 |
| 18 | Utah | 653,230 | $1,189.1 | $1,820 |
| 19 | Oregon | 953,810 | $1,735.2 | $1,819 |
| 20 | North Dakota | 199,492 | $362.5 | $1,817 |
| 21 | Texas | 5,825,370 | $10,288.5 | $1,766 |
| 22 | Delaware | 249,624 | $436.2 | $1,747 |
| 23 | Nebraska | 498,327 | $861.8 | $1,729 |
| 24 | Kansas | 750,703 | $1,295.5 | $1,726 |
| 25 | Montana | 278,602 | $478.7 | $1,718 |
| 26 | Arizona | 1,555,284 | $2,669.8 | $1,717 |
| 27 | Georgia | 2,310,104 | $3,953.1 | $1,711 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | 1,558,251 | $2,628.8 | $1,687 |
| 29 | Pennsylvania | 3,444,645 | $5,805.0 | $1,685 |
| 30 | Florida | 4,867,931 | $8,165.4 | $1,677 |
| 31 | Wyoming | 158,372 | $265.6 | $1,677 |
| 32 | New Mexico | 526,208 | $864.4 | $1,643 |
| 33 | Oklahoma | 986,719 | $1,619.6 | $1,641 |
| 34 | Missouri | 1,614,450 | $2,636.4 | $1,633 |
| 35 | Ohio | 3,045,022 | $4,969.2 | $1,632 |
| 36 | North Carolina | 2,534,475 | $4,132.5 | $1,631 |
| 37 | Nevada | 580,080 | $942.8 | $1,625 |
| 38 | South Dakota | 224,676 | $363.2 | $1,617 |
| 39 | Idaho | 415,126 | $670.6 | $1,615 |
| 40 | Iowa | 898,866 | $1,451.5 | $1,615 |
| 41 | Michigan | 2,739,690 | $4,420.4 | $1,613 |
| 42 | Louisiana | 1,161,174 | $1,873.1 | $1,613 |
| 43 | Maine | 402,697 | $646.4 | $1,605 |
| 44 | Tennessee | 1,694,955 | $2,684.2 | $1,584 |
| 45 | South Carolina | 1,264,229 | $1,997.5 | $1,580 |
| 46 | Alabama | 1,292,936 | $2,017.3 | $1,560 |
| 47 | Indiana | 1,747,919 | $2,697.0 | $1,543 |
| 48 | Kentucky | 1,159,697 | $1,787.3 | $1,541 |
| 49 | Arkansas | 771,194 | $1,178.6 | $1,528 |
| 50 | Mississippi | 755,676 | $1,131.7 | $1,498 |
| 51 | West Virginia | 538,188 | $782.4 | $1,454 |
In general, the states at the top of the list are mostly high-cost areas, and those at the bottom are lower-cost areas. So I adjusted the list based on first quarter 2014 cost of living data to get a better sense of which states are going to be doing more home improvement in 2014.
NAHB 2014 Spending Projections Adjusted for Cost of Living
| RANK | STATE | COST OF LIVING | ADJ. PER HOME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia | 97.0 | $2,071 |
| 2 | Colorado | 100.4 | $2,006 |
| 3 | Utah | 93.0 | $1,957 |
| 4 | District of Columbia | 139.6 | $1,939 |
| 5 | Illinois | 95.5 | $1,922 |
| 6 | Texas | 92.8 | $1,903 |
| 7 | Kansas | 91.3 | $1,890 |
| 8 | Nebraska | 91.7 | $1,886 |
| 9 | Washington | 102.6 | $1,847 |
| 10 | Georgia | 92.7 | $1,846 |
| 11 | Minnesota | 101.8 | $1,817 |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 90.4 | $1,816 |
| 13 | North Dakota | 100.4 | $1,810 |
| 14 | Maryland | 117.7 | $1,808 |
| 15 | Wyoming | 93.2 | $1,799 |
| 16 | Tennessee | 89.7 | $1,765 |
| 17 | New Mexico | 93.4 | $1,759 |
| 18 | Iowa | 92.5 | $1,746 |
| 19 | Massachusetts | 121.3 | $1,745 |
| 20 | Missouri | 93.7 | $1,743 |
| 21 | Montana | 98.6 | $1,743 |
| 22 | Ohio | 94.1 | $1,734 |
| 23 | Michigan | 93.9 | $1,718 |
| 24 | Connecticut | 125.2 | $1,715 |
| 25 | Idaho | 94.2 | $1,715 |
| 26 | Kentucky | 90.0 | $1,712 |
| 27 | Wisconsin | 98.8 | $1,708 |
| 28 | Mississippi | 87.8 | $1,706 |
| 29 | Indiana | 90.7 | $1,701 |
| 30 | Louisiana | 95.3 | $1,693 |
| 31 | Alabama | 92.4 | $1,689 |
| 32 | Arizona | 101.8 | $1,686 |
| 33 | Florida | 99.7 | $1,682 |
| 34 | New Hampshire | 116.1 | $1,675 |
| 35 | New Jersey | 127.6 | $1,669 |
| 36 | North Carolina | 97.8 | $1,667 |
| 37 | Pennsylvania | 101.6 | $1,659 |
| 38 | Delaware | 105.7 | $1,653 |
| 39 | Arkansas | 92.5 | $1,652 |
| 40 | South Dakota | 98.3 | $1,645 |
| 41 | South Carolina | 96.1 | $1,644 |
| 42 | Nevada | 100.2 | $1,622 |
| 43 | California | 127.1 | $1,611 |
| 44 | Vermont | 117.2 | $1,568 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 120.9 | $1,563 |
| 46 | Oregon | 121.7 | $1,495 |
| 47 | Alaska | 131.8 | $1,482 |
| 48 | West Virginia | 98.6 | $1,474 |
| 49 | New York | 132.2 | $1,470 |
| 50 | Maine | 109.7 | $1,463 |
| 51 | Hawaii | 162.9 | $1,248 |
After adjusting for by how expensive each state is, the top five for home improvement activity in 2014 are Virginia, Colorado, Utah, the District of Columbia, and Illinois. The bottom five are Alaska, West Virginia, New York, Maine, and Hawaii.
Bottom line: If you live in a state near the top of the list, don’t expect that you’ll have a lot of flexibility on schedule or price when working with a pro for your home improvement project since lots of your neighbors are probably planning similar projects, too. If you’re in a state near the bottom of the list, you might have a little more leeway.
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Tim Ellis is a data journalist for home improvement website Porch.