Arlington Real Estate Statistics: Housing, Prices, and Ownership in 2026

Arlington real estate statistics at a glance

Arlington real estate is defined by a dense housing stock, high rents, and a market where ownership, affordability, and new construction all matter at the same time.

The numbers below show a county that is still growing, still adding committed affordable units, and still carrying a price structure that makes homeownership difficult for many households.

Fast facts

Arlington County had 124,873 housing units as of July 1, 2024, and 123,700 total housing units as of January 2024 (U.S. Census QuickFacts; Arlington County Profile 2025).
The county population reached 243,760 in 2025 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Arlington’s median gross rent was $2,275 in 2019-2023 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
The median value of owner-occupied housing units was $864,800 in 2019-2023 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Committed affordable housing reached 11,936 units in fiscal year 2025, equal to 17.7% of the housing stock toward the 2040 target shown in the dashboard (Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).

Arlington housing stock and supply
Arlington real estate prices, rents, and ownership costs
Arlington homeownership and household mix
Arlington housing construction and permit activity
Affordable housing in Arlington
Homeownership study insights
Demographic context for Arlington real estate
What the statistics suggest for buyers, renters, and planners

Arlington housing stock and supply

Arlington’s housing inventory is large, dense, and heavily apartment-based. That matters because the local real estate story is not just about single-family homes; it is about how multifamily housing shapes the market.

Big number: Arlington County had 124,873 housing units as of July 1, 2024, according to U.S. Census QuickFacts, while the Arlington County Profile 2025 reported 123,700 total housing units as of January 2024.

The county profile also puts total housing units at 126,540 in fiscal year 2025 through the Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025. Those figures are close enough to show the same underlying point: Arlington has a substantial housing base, but the mix is what defines the market.

Housing type mix

At the start of 2024, Arlington’s housing stock was dominated by apartments.

Housing type	Units	Share of stock	Source
Apartments	89,100	72%	Arlington County Profile 2025
Single-family detached	27,570	22%	Arlington County Profile 2025
Single-family attached	7,030	6%	Arlington County Profile 2025

That mix helps explain why Arlington real estate often behaves differently from suburban counties with more detached-home supply. In Arlington, apartment availability and pricing can influence the broader market just as much as ownership inventory.

What changed in 2024

Arlington also added new units, mostly in multifamily development.

6,403 new multi-family units were completed in 2024, a 7.7% increase (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Arlington saw a net gain of 37 single-family attached units in 2024 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Arlington saw a net loss of 125 single-family detached units in 2024 (Arlington County Profile 2025).

That combination says a lot about the county’s development pattern. The market is expanding, but the expansion is concentrated in the housing forms that can be added at scale.

Arlington real estate prices, rents, and ownership costs

Arlington real estate is expensive by the standards of most local housing markets, and the official county and Census figures point in the same direction.

At-a-glance pricing signals

Median value of owner-occupied housing units: $864,800 (2019-2023, U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Median gross rent: $2,275 (2019-2023, U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Median monthly owner costs with a mortgage: $3,528 (2019-2023, U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Median monthly owner costs without a mortgage: $1,159 (2019-2023, U.S. Census QuickFacts).
2024 median sales price shown in the dashboard: $1,275,000 (Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).

The spread between rent and ownership costs is important. A household paying the median gross rent is already dealing with a high monthly housing bill, but the median owner cost with a mortgage is substantially higher. That makes the leap from renting to buying especially difficult without meaningful income growth or substantial equity.

Why the price structure matters

Arlington’s price structure creates a narrow corridor for entry-level ownership.

High rents do not automatically translate into easy paths to ownership.
Mortgage carrying costs are elevated even before adding taxes, insurance, and maintenance.
A median value of $864,800 and a dashboard sales price of $1,275,000 signal a market where priced-out buyers have limited room to maneuver (U.S. Census QuickFacts; Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).

That is one reason the county’s planning and affordability data are so central to understanding Arlington real estate statistics. The market is not just expensive; it is expensive in a way that affects both rental and ownership segments.

Arlington homeownership and household mix

Arlington’s housing market is not dominated by owners. The county still has a stronger renter presence than owner presence in the occupied stock.

Key ownership figures

Owners occupied 37.4% of occupied housing units in Arlington as of January 2024 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Renters occupied 62.6% of occupied housing units as of January 2024 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Arlington’s owner-occupied housing unit rate was 41.8% in 2019-2023 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Arlington had 117,700 households as of January 2024 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
The average household size was 2.14 persons in the 2020 Census (Arlington County Profile 2025).

Those numbers make Arlington less owner-heavy than many people expect for a high-income county. The overall structure points to a dense, renter-majority housing market with a sizable but still minority ownership base.

Household composition shapes demand

Household size and composition are part of the real estate story too.

One-third of Arlington households were occupied by 2 people (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Family households were 43.8% of households in the 2022 ACS (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Non-family households were 56.2% of households in the 2022 ACS (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Two-person households ranged from 31% to 36% across Arlington’s planning corridors (Arlington County Profile 2025).

That mix supports demand for smaller units, efficient layouts, and transit-oriented buildings. It also helps explain why multifamily development remains such a large part of the county’s housing pipeline.

Arlington housing construction and permit activity

Construction activity gives another angle on Arlington real estate statistics. Even if the county is not expanding at the pace of a fast-growing Sun Belt metro, it is still adding and permitting housing.

Permit and population signals

Arlington had 621 building permits in 2024 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
The 2024 population estimate for Arlington was 239,807 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
The population estimate base on April 1, 2020 was 238,646 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Arlington’s population changed 0.5% from April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Arlington’s 2020 Census population was 238,643 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Arlington’s 2010 Census population was 207,627 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).

The population story is steady rather than explosive. That kind of growth pattern tends to keep pressure on supply rather than relieve it, especially when household formation stays strong and land is constrained.

How to read the supply picture

A few practical takeaways emerge from the construction figures:

New units matter because the county already has a large housing base, so even moderate additions can change submarket balance.
Building permits are useful as a directional indicator, but completions tell the more important supply story.
The 2024 multifamily completion total of 6,403 units is much more relevant to market availability than a simple population change percentage (Arlington County Profile 2025).

Affordable housing in Arlington

Affordable housing statistics are central to understanding Arlington real estate because the county’s market is expensive enough that affordability policy becomes part of the market structure itself.

Dashboard snapshot

Metric	Value	Source
Committed affordable housing units	11,936	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Added in fiscal year 2025	581	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Share of housing stock toward 2040 target	17.7%	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Households receiving Housing Grants	1,680	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Households receiving Housing Choice Vouchers	1,677	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Persons supported through Permanent Supportive Housing	493	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Households served through eviction prevention	1,611	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025
Persons served by shelters	469	Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025

This is not a side topic. In Arlington, affordability programs are a major part of the housing ecosystem.

Rents and assistance levels

The dashboard also gives a useful look at market rents and program exposure:

Studio average asking rent: $1,992, with a -0.4% change (Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).
Two-bedroom average asking rent: $2,988, with a 0.9% change (Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).
Three-bedroom average asking rent: $3,814, with a 2.1% change (Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).
85% of committed affordable units in Arlington’s planning corridors were 1- or 2-bedroom units (Arlington County Profile 2025).
93% of Permanent Supportive Housing participants remained in PSH or exited to permanent housing (Affordable Housing Dashboard 2025).

Those figures show two things at once: the market is expensive, and the county is trying to hold together a large support system in a high-cost environment.

Homeownership study insights

The Arlington Homeownership Study Background adds detail about where ownership is concentrated and how financing patterns vary.

Ownership structure and comparisons

Arlington’s housing stock was 49.6% apartments in the 2022 homeownership background analysis (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Arlington’s homeownership rate was 43.9% in the 2022 background analysis (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
That rate compared with 43.2% in Alexandria and 41.6% in the District of Columbia (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).

The comparison is useful because it places Arlington in a regional context rather than treating it as a standalone market. Arlington is not an outlier in the region, but it is clearly operating in a dense, ownership-constrained corridor.

Condo and price details

The background study also highlights specific market segments:

The highest volume of condo sales in 2022 was in ZIP code 22201 (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
There were 757 sales of 2-bedroom condos in Arlington in 2022 (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
The condo structure with the highest volume of sales at or under $500,000 in ZIP code 22204 in 2022 was Condo Garden (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
The median-priced home used in the example affordability calculation was $529,871 in mid-September 2022, with an example mortgage interest rate of 3.85% (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).

Those are the kinds of details that matter when someone is trying to understand entry-level ownership in Arlington. The market is not only expensive overall; it is segmented in ways that make some neighborhoods and product types much more accessible than others.

Homeownership by household group

The study also shows major differences in ownership rates by household type:

White non-Hispanic households had a 49% homeownership rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Asian households had a 35% homeownership rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Hispanic or Latino households had a 29% homeownership rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Black or African American households had a 21% homeownership rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).

The lending data in the same study shows that access to mortgage credit also varies by group:

Home purchase mortgage applications from white non-Hispanic applicants totaled 2,187 with a 2.7% denial rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
All purchase applications totaled 3,902 with a 3.3% denial rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Asian purchase applications totaled 407 with a 3.9% denial rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Hispanic or Latino purchase applications totaled 209 with a 7.2% denial rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).
Black or African American purchase applications totaled 140 with a 9.3% denial rate (Arlington Homeownership Study Background).

That is a meaningful pattern because homeownership rates are not just about stock or prices. They are also about who gets through the financing process and on what terms.

Demographic context for Arlington real estate

The demographic profile helps explain why Arlington real estate has such strong demand and such persistent affordability pressure.

Population composition

Arlington’s population reached 243,760 in 2025 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
Persons under 5 years old were 4.6% of the population (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Persons under 18 years old were 17.7% of the population (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Persons age 65 and over were 12.5% of the population (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Female persons were 49.7% of the population (U.S. Census QuickFacts).

Race, ethnicity, and mobility

White alone residents were 72.4% of the population (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Black alone residents were 10.7% (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Asian alone residents were 11.9% (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Hispanic or Latino residents were 16.3% (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
White alone, non-Hispanic residents were 58.3% (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Foreign-born residents were 21.9% of the population in 2019-2023 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).
Arlington had 11,924 veterans in 2019-2023 (U.S. Census QuickFacts).

Work patterns and housing demand

Work-from-home behavior is another important housing driver.

31% of Arlington residents age 16 and over worked from home in 2025 (Arlington County Profile 2025).
That work-from-home share was up 16.5% from the prior year (Arlington County Profile 2025).

Remote work can affect neighborhood preference, unit size demand, and home search radius. In a county with strong apartment concentration and limited land for expansion, even a modest shift in household preferences can change which units lease or sell first.

What the statistics suggest for buyers, renters, and planners

The Arlington real estate picture is not a single trend. It is a stack of overlapping pressures:

Supply is large but still constrained by land use and product mix.
Multifamily housing dominates the stock, and new completions are concentrated there.
Rents and ownership costs are both high, but ownership costs are much higher at the median.
The renter share remains larger than the owner share, even in a county with strong income and employment fundamentals.
Affordable housing is not peripheral; it is a central policy and market issue.

The most important data point may be the simplest one: Arlington has a deep housing market, but the median costs show how hard it is for many households to move from housing stability to ownership stability. That tension is what makes Arlington real estate statistics worth following closely year after year.