Wonkblog recently charted the most prevalent types of homes in major American cities. This chart shows a similar comparison defining cities a little more broadly.

The kinds of housing in the United States’ biggest urban areas. Graphic by the author.

Cities have arbitrary political boundaries, and that often makes cross-city comparisons difficult. A better geographic unit is the census-designated urban area (UA), the boundaries of which are determined by starting in the middle of a city and moving outwards until population densities dip below a certain threshold.

The Wonkblog post noted that in the District, only about 10% of homes are single-family, detached houses, much lower than in other cities except Philadelphia and New York. When you look at UAs, Philadelphia drops somewhat and Baltimore rises. Washington remains high on both measures.

Image from Wonkblog.

Other cities shift a lot. Atlanta, for instance, has the 9th fewest detached single-family homes when ranked by cities, but 32nd looking at UA’s. The Atlanta area has many politically-charged small city boundaries, so the urban area encompasses much more land.

What else do you notice?