It’s a rough time for new home starts. According to the annual Kitchen & Bath (K&B) Market Outlook Report for 2023, the compounding pressures of low savings and sky-high interest rates and inflation have since tampered pandemic appetites for new construction, and anyone working residential is likely feeling it. However, that same report does note that people originally planning on moving have instead decided to roll the money they were going to use for that into spending for home improvements.

In fact, the NKBA report states that this trend towards remodeling is what’s going to help sustain the industry throughout 2023 (and likely 2024—but that’s just my personal opinion). Living in New England, it’s very interesting to hear how the market has shifted into favoring renovations a little bit more, as that’s essentially the norm in a real estate landscape with precious little land to work with.

Texas and Florida are still likely safe bets for integrators who call those markets home, as even with all the pandemic pressures, it seems as those markets have only gotten harder. But where’s the most money being spent in home improvements?

A home improvement spending study conducted by the Contractor Growth Network looks into just that.

The Top 10 States Spending the Most Money on Home Improvements

The study analyzed renovation expenditures compared to the median household income across every state as reported in the Consensus Business Builder between December 2021 to December 2022.

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Commenting on the findings, a researcher at the Contractor Growth Network noted, “There has never been a better time to renovate property in America. In fact, research shows that home improvement market sales amounted to $558.3B in 2022, further projected to reach $621.3B by 2025.”

According to data pulled from the census bureau, new home construction still outcompetes this number, with new home construction in 2022 amounting to $899.1B, however, as new home construction starts have once again dropped, it is likely the gap has been further closed.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given my earlier comment, some of the highest spenders land themselves along the East Coast.

The data below lists a total estimate of how much is spent by residents each year on home improvements with a further breakdown of the median spending per resident. The states are ordered based on per resident spending and not total state expenditures.

1. New Jersey  

According to calculations New Jersey residents spent roughly $42.77M on home renovations within a year, equating to each household spending $4,634 on renovations given New Jersey’s population of 9.23 million.

2. Maryland 

At number two, Maryland residents spent roughly $27.77M combined over a year’s time frame, with each resident estimated to have spent $4,516 on home improvements.

3. Massachusetts 

In third, Massachusetts residents spent a grand total of $31.08M on home improvements, with each homeowner roughly having spent $4,473 in the year.

4. Connecticut 

Connecticut residents are estimated to have spent $15.72M over the year, with average resident spending amounting to $4,356.

5. Hawaii 

Hawaii takes fifth place with residents having spent $6.17M grand total on renovations, however, with the state’s modest population of 1.442M, that amounts to an average spending of $4,279 on home improvements.

6. California 

In sixth place with a population of 39.24 million, Californian households totaled in at $167.90M (by far the largest total estimate of a state) in spending for home improvements, however, that equates to each household on average spending $4,268 on home improvements per year.

7. Virginia 

Bringing us back to the East Coast, Virginia residents spent roughly $36.42M on home improvements with each household spending $4,215 on average.

8. New Hampshire

Boasting a much smaller population of 1.389M considering the state’s size, New Hampshire residents spent a total of $5.75M on home improvements within a year, equating to each household having spent $4,145 on home makeovers per year.

9. Washington 

Soaring back over to the West Coast (it seems the coastal states have something going on), Washington totals in at $31.54M spent on home improvements. That’s each household spending $4,076 for renovations.

10. Colorado 

Lastly, Colorado, another state that’s rather tight on land but high on living appeal, comes in with its residents spending $22.83M on home improvements at $3,929 per household.

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