A change in the number of occupied housing units can be an indicator of a population change and economic growth in a region.

Lancaster County has remained unchanged in the rate of occupied housing since 2000, increasing by 1 percentage point from 2011-2015 to a 96% occupancy rate. The City of Lancaster increased from 91% occupancy to 94% over this same period. These rates are similar to the occupancy rates in surrounding counties, which range from a low of 91% in Dauphin to a high of 96% in Chester.

At over 204,000 recorded housing units, Lancaster County has the largest stock of occupied housing of any surrounding county; only Chester is close with about 193,000 occupied housing units.

The multi-year figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are expected to be released in the fourth quarter.