America's Empty Homes: The Overlooked Rural and Nonmetropolitan Housing Vacancy Problem

Abstract

This study examines structural housing vacancy as an underrecognized dimension of rural and nonmetropolitan inequality in the United States. Rural areas experiencing structural vacancy face economic strain, weakened housing markets, fiscal stress, and cycles of disinvestment and population loss. Existing research emphasizes metropolitan contexts and absolute vacancy counts, obscuring rural and nonmetropolitan patterns that become visible when vacancy is measured as a percentage of total housing units and when seasonal housing is analytically separated. Using county‐level data from the 2015–2019 American Community Survey, this study examines the correlates of structural housing vacancy—defined as vacant housing units excluding those used for seasonal, recreational, or occasional purposes. Results indicate that structural vacancy is strongly associated with economic disadvantage, weaker housing markets, rural remoteness, and regional context. In contrast, seasonal vacancy reflects amenity‐driven dynamics tied to aging populations, retirement migration, and second‐home ownership. Path analyses further demonstrate substantial subregional heterogeneity in the mechanisms producing seasonal and structural vacancy. These findings demonstrate that structural vacancy is a spatial manifestation of uneven development and population change across rural America, while highlighting the importance of distinguishing vacancy regimes and advancing a more spatially grounded understanding of housing inequality in the United States.