Rural, Central-City, and Suburban Differences in Housing Quality among the Elderly: Assessing the Impact of Sociodemographic Characteristics

Peter J. Mateyka, Pennsylvania State University
Shelley K. Irving, Pennsylvania State University

Housing quality is particularly important for the elderly; yet, there are well documented differences in housing quality across central city, suburban, and rural areas. While housing quality is expected to be worse in central city and rural areas than in suburban areas, there are reasons to expect poorer housing quality among the rural elderly because of higher poverty rates coupled with higher homeownership rates in rural areas. In other words, while the rural elderly are more likely to own a house, they are frequently unable to maintain the house. This study compares housing quality among the elderly in central city, suburban, and rural areas using national data from the 2005 American Housing Survey. We explain residential location differences in housing quality using sociodemographic characteristics and identify possible interaction effects between residential location and sociodemographic characteristics on housing quality among the elderly.