Ranches Are No Longer the Most Popular Home Style in America, New Data Says

Your typical ranch home is no longer the most popular style of architecture in America, thanks again (groan, boo, hiss, yawn) to the changing tastes of millennials — the majority of whom have now entered their prime settle-down-and-start-a-family (or just build equity) years.

In an update to their 2016 survey, Trulia just released findings that show that while Americans still overwhelmingly love the Ranch, younger generations are increasingly being drawn to other styles of architecture — making Craftsman bungalows the most popular home style in America right now.

In a survey of more than 2,000 Americans ages 18 and up, Trulia and Harris Poll found that Americans’ favorite home styles are the craftsman (43 percent), ranch (41 percent) and colonial (36 percent) — but that among millennials, or Americans between the ages of 18 and 34, more than half (52 percent) prefer craftsman-style homes compared to just a third (36 percent) of those over 55 years old, who still prefer the pervasive Ranch (52 percent versus just 28 percent of millennials).

From Los Angeles to Seattle to Portland, Minneapolis to Connecticut to Cincinnati to Savannah, Apartment Therapy has featured a lot of beautiful Craftsman-style homes over the years — in particular, this last year or so. But as it turns out, at least according to Trulia’s own data, those Craftsman homes might be increasingly hard to come by despite their popularity. Among all the home listings on Trulia, the most common architectural styles called out as selling points in real estate listing descriptions are still Colonial, Ranch, Cape Cod, Victorian, and Mid-Century homes, though it does vary by state.

Pondering why millennials might favor the Craftsman, Money magazine suggested that it could have something to do with the bungalow’s origin. “Craftsman homes were born of a rejection of the mass production enabled by the Industrial Revolution,” writer Shaina Mishkin opines. “The movement that created the style in the late 1800s valued handmade craftsmanship over mechanized labor, a sentiment that echoes millennials’ penchant for DIY.” Sounds pretty solid and checks out over here.

In addition to the survey data about favorite architectural styles, Trulia’s Design Panel shared these tips on how to perfectly pair your decor with your home’s architecture. The real estate site also found some pretty interesting geographic anomalies when it came to most popular (versus iconic) architectural styles in certain cities, shared yesterday in a press release:

• Although brownstones are practically a New York City icon, Colonial houses are actually more numerous in the city.
• While Art Deco may be nearly synonymous with Miami at this point, it’s actually mid-century homes that are by far the most common throughout the city.
• Even though snow-covered log cabins might get our ski bunny dreams going, Colorado Springs, Colorado actually has the highest proportion of Ranches in the country.

To view the full findings, check out the Trulia reporting here.