Newly released census data shows how much housing costs climbed for Marion

Members of the Phoenix Rising YouthBuild team are silhouetted as they help raise a wall during the Habitat For Humanity Phoenix Rising YouthBuild Wall Raising ceremony on Pecan Road in Silver Springs Shores, Fla. on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. The 1,100 square foot 3/2 home is being built for Jimarie Cruz-Sanchez, who has two sons, ages 9 and 14. Habitat For Humanity is building six homes for families this year, four of them are active construction sites. The Habitat home for Cruz-Sanchez is being built by Phoenix Rising YouthBuild through a community housing development grant administered by Marion County Community Services, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Neighborhood Housing and Development Corp., Florida State Housing Initiative Partnership, Equal Housing Opportunity, Silver River Mentoring and Instruction, the College of Central Florida, Eckerd Connects Workforce Development and CareerSource Citrus Levy Marion. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2020.

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Posted January 29, 2026 |

By Jennifer Hunt Murty

A new federal report from the U.S. Census Bureau suggests housing costs for many American homeowners remained flat over the last five plus years, while data for Marion County reflects a steeper climb.

When comparing the American Community Survey results for the 2020-2024 against the prior 2015-2019 period, Marion County housing costs are outpacing national trends, driven by upward home values, a drop in vacancies, and rent hikes that are nearly double the national increase.

Home values soar

Nationally, the narrative is one of rising equity, with median home values increasing by $65,000. However, Marion County surpassed that growth in both dollar amount and percentage.

The median home value in Marion County jumped by $70,900, rising from $172,200 in the previous five-year period to $243,100. This represents a 41% increase in value, significantly higher than the national percentage increase indicated by the Census data.

Rents rise faster than U.S. average

Tenants in Marion County are feeling the pressure more acutely than the typical American renter.

According to the Census Bureau report, renters nationwide paid about $100 more a month during the 2020-2024 period. In Marion County, the median gross rent jumped by $175, rising from $1,102 to $1,277 per month.

The percentage of local renters spending 35% or more of their household income on rent—a metric often used to define severe cost burden—rose from 40.6% to 43.4%.

Bucking the “flat mortgage” trend

Perhaps the most distinct divergence from the national data concerns homeowners. The Census Bureau notes that nationally, “mortgages stayed flat,” with median monthly costs for mortgaged households remaining unchanged at $1,963.

Although Marion County’s median monthly costs are not as high as those elsewhere around the nation, local residents did not enjoy the same stability – monthly costs for mortgaged households went from $1,352 to $1,406.

Even residents who own their homes free of a mortgage are paying more, likely due to rising insurance premiums and property taxes. The median monthly cost for owners without a mortgage rose from $460 to $499. Consequently, the share of mortgage-free owners spending 35% or more of their income on housing spiked from 7.9% to 12.1%.

Vanishing vacancies and changing stock

Driving these prices is a tightening of availability. The residential vacancy rate in Marion County plummeted from 17.6% in the 2015-2019 period to 12.4% in the most recent data.

While developers are building—4.5% of the county’s housing stock was built in 2020 or later—the composition of local housing is shifting. Mobile homes, traditionally a source of affordable housing in the area, are becoming less common. The percentage of county housing units classified as mobile homes dropped from 20.6% to 18.2%.

Meanwhile, larger homes are on the rise. Homes with nine or more rooms increased from 5% to 6.2% of the housing stock, suggesting a shift toward higher-end inventory.