Realtor.com® and Cox Automotive Identify the Top Electric Vehicle Friendly Housing Markets
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 10, 2024 – In 2023, 1.2 million U.S. vehicle buyers chose to go electric, according to Kelley Blue Book, a Cox Automotive brand. For electric vehicle (EV) owners certain factors, like home-charging ability and easy access to charging facilities are necessary for smooth EV ownership. A new report from Realtor.com® and Cox Automotive has uncovered the top housing markets for EV owners. These markets include; San Jose, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco; Boston; Seattle, Wash.; Durham, N.C.; Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Denver, Colo.
“A mix of accessibility to charging facilities and a high share of EV-friendly homes listed on Realtor.com® made these places the most EV-friendly housing markets,” said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist of Realtor.com®. “The data shows that home sellers are very aware of the trend toward electrification. Mirroring the rise in the number of electric vehicles, the share of homes marketing EV-friendly characteristics on Realtor.com® is growing over time. Similarly, rates of EV adoption vary by market, and rates of EV-friendly homes in different areas reflect this. As the number of EV owners grows, I expect to see more demand for at-home charging and EV friendly characteristics from both buyers and renters. Sellers and property managers who can meet this demand–which can be found in newer and older homes– will undoubtedly have an edge.”
Top EV-Friendly Housing Markets
| Rank | Top Markets | Share of EV-Friendly Listing | # EV per Public Charging Port |
| 1 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 4.9 % | 24 |
| 2 | Salt Lake City, UT | 1.6 % | 17 |
| 3 | San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA | 3.8 % | 29 |
| 4 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 1.3 % | 13 |
| 5 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 3.3 % | 29 |
| 6 | Durham-Chapel Hill, NC | 1.7 % | 21 |
| 7 | Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX | 2.0 % | 24 |
| 8 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 3.1 % | 29 |
| 9 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 1.6 % | 19 |
| 10 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 1.6 % | 20 |
| 11 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 2.6 % | 30 |
| 12 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 1.9 % | 26 |
| 13 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA | 1.3 % | 19 |
| 14 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | 2.9 % | 40 |
| 15 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 2.6 % | 33 |
| 16 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 2.1 % | 36 |
| 17 | Portland-South Portland, ME | 0.8 % | 13 |
| 18 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 1.7 % | 32 |
| 19 | Fresno, CA | 0.7 % | 14 |
| 20 | Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV | 1.1 % | 28 |
The analysis of most EV-friendly housing markets looked at markets on Realtor.com® with a great combination of EV-friendly listings and congestion index, measured as the ratio of EVs and Plug-In Hybrids (PHEVs) to public charging ports to uncover the best housing markets for electrified-vehicle owners.
The Rise in EV Ownership Means More Demand EV-Friendly Homes
As EV ownership grows, so does the share of home listings being described as EV-friendly. In 2023, 0.9% of for-sale homes listed on Realtor.com® were described as EV-friendly. While the share was slightly below 1%, it has been growing rapidly. Five years ago, it was only 0.1%.
In the number one EV-friendly housing market, San Jose, Calif., one in five households has an electric vehicle. The metro area, consequently, also saw the highest share of EV-friendly homes listed (4.9%) among all the metros in 2023. Additionally, Boulder, Colo. (3.4%), Seattle, Wash. (3.3%), Bloomington, Ill. (2.2%), Urban Honolulu, Hawaii (2.1%), Bend, Ore. (2.1%), Trenton, N.J. (2.0%) and Austin, Texas (2.0%) all saw a higher-than-average share of EV-friendly homes listed for sale.
“We have found a clear and positive synergy between the housing market and EV adoption,” remarked Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist, Cox Automotive. “While we remain in the early innings in the electrification of the auto market with dramatic variation in adoption thus far, EV-friendly homes are proving to be key. Having access to a charger is fundamental to the ease of use for an EV, and when that charger is in a home it is both convenient and economical. This, in turn, makes EV-friendly homes stand out in markets with more EV owners.”
Opportunity for EV-Friendly Home Growth
There’s a growing demand for more EV-friendly homes to accommodate the increasing number of EV owners. Even in EV-friendly markets like Oxnard, Calif., Riverside, Calif., Urban Honolulu, Hawaii and Portland, Ore, where there’s already a high concentration of EV-friendly listings, the crowded public charging facilities indicate a potential for even greater demand for EV-compatible homes.
For more information on the top housing markets for EV owners and for a general snapshot of the state of EV ownership and home friendliness please visit https://www.realtor.com/research/electric-vehicles-2024/.
Methodology
Top EV-friendly markets were first determined by calculating percentile levels for 1) share of EV-friendly listings and 2) congestion index (EV per public port). Then a weighted average was taken between the two metrics to come up with an EV-friendly housing score for each market, forming the basis for market rankings. According to a study from the U.S. Department of Energy, 80% of EV charging is done at home. We assign 0.8 as the weight to the home metric and 0.2 to the public charging metric. EV-friendly homes are single-family homes and condos/townhomes/rowhomes/co-ops listed for-sale on Realtor.com® with featuring terms such as ‘electric vehicles’ and ‘240-volt outlet’ in the listing descriptions.
About Realtor.com®
Realtor.com® is an open real estate marketplace built for everyone. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of digital real estate more than 25 years ago. Today, through its website and mobile apps, Realtor.com® is a trusted guide for consumers, empowering more people to find their way home by breaking down barriers, helping them make the right connections, and creating confidence through expert insights and guidance. For professionals, Realtor.com® is a trusted partner for business growth, offering consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today’s on-demand world. Realtor.com® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. For more information, visit Realtor.com®.
About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive is the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the largest breadth of first-party data fed by 2.3 billion online interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for car shoppers, auto manufacturers, dealers, lenders and fleets. The company has 29,000-plus employees on five continents and a portfolio of industry-leading brands that include Autotrader®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, vAuto®, Dealertrack®, NextGear Capital™, CentralDispatch®, and FleetNet America®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately owned, Atlanta-based company with $22 billion in annual revenue. Visit coxautoinc.com, or connect via @CoxAutomotive on X, CoxAutoInc on Facebook, or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.
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