One in 18 Americans live in mobile homes

SAN FRANCISCO – Mobile homes are the largest source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the nation, providing shelter for one in ten households living below the poverty line, according to Apartment List. 

Around 5.6 percent of all Americans, or 17.7 million people, live in manufactured homes. That’s one in 18 Americans. 

The average mobile home costs $564 per month compared with $1,057 for a site-built home or apartment. 

In the 100 largest metros, mobile home residents spend 40.5 percent less on housing than those living in non-mobile homes in the same metro. 

Although manufactured homes are cheaper and faster to build than traditional homes, they are rarely viewed as a solution to the affordable housing shortage. 

Center Research Economist Dr. Harold Hunt discusses how far manufactured homes have come in "Not Your Grandfather’s Trailer House," a Tierra Grande article from 2013. For information on renting mobile homes, read the Center’s Landlords and Tenants Guide for Manufactured Home Communities by former Center Research Attorney Judon Fambrough.