Over half of new single-family homes built in 2025 were two or more stories, according to the recent release of the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC). After increasing in 2024, the share of homes started with two or more stories fell in 2025. However, the gap between one-story and two-or-more-story shares has been relatively stable since 2021, with only small year-to-year fluctuations.
Nationwide, the share of new homes with two or more stories fell from 52.5% in 2024 to 51.4% in 2025, while the share of new homes with one story rose from 47.5% to 48.6%. Despite the decline, more than half of new homes built nationally in 2025 were two or more stories, though this share varied significantly across the nation.
As shown below, new homes started in the Midwest and the South generally favored single-story homes, while the Northeast and the West had higher shares of two or more stories. In the Midwest, single-story homes accounted for 55.7% of new homes started in the East North Central division and 54.3% in the West North Central division. In the South, single-story shares reached 61.7% in East South Central and 56.6% in West South Central. The South Atlantic division was the exception, with two or more story homes still the majority (54.2%).
Outside the Midwest and the South, single-story shares were lowest in New England (25.7%) and the Middle Atlantic (26.5%), while the Pacific (47.5%) and Mountain (41.9%) divisions were higher.
Compared with 2024, single-story shares rose in the East North Central and East South Central divisions to multi-year highs, while shares in the West North Central and West South Central divisions fell to multi-year lows.
In the Northeast, where two-or-more-story homes are more common, New England rebounded and the Middle Atlantic declined further. Two divisions in the West have moved in opposite directions over the past few years. The single-story share in the Pacific has increased in seven of the last eight years, from 32.7% in 2017 to 47.5% in 2025. However, the Mountain division saw the reverse, falling from a peak of 50.7% in 2020 to 41.9% in 2025.
Looking specifically at new homes with three or more stories, the national share edged up to 5.2%, compared to 5.0% in 2017. The small increase over the past eight years has been concentrated in New England (from 7.2% to 14.1%) and the Middle Atlantic (from 14.0% to 15.1%), while the share has doubled in Mountain division (from 3.0% to 6.6%). New homes with three or more stories were less common in the Midwest and South, accounting for less than 3% of new homes started in most divisions, except the South Atlantic at 5.0%.