Some of our charts show a row for each of the states where we are licensed, side by side. Others show one state at a time, next to the U.S. total. The difference comes from the kind of figure on the chart: a dollar amount or a count. This page explains both, and the one rule every chart follows.
Dollar figures, side by side
Some figures are dollar amounts, such as average weekly pay or the average price of homes bought with a mortgage. A dollar amount means the same thing in each state: a week of pay in one state is measured in the same dollars as a week of pay in another. So our charts can show those figures for every state at once, side by side, on the same scale, with the U.S. figure from the same source and period below them as a reference.
Why counts are shown differently
Other figures are counts, such as building permits or mortgages originated. A count depends on how big a state is. A state with more people and more homes will usually have more permits and more mortgages, whatever is happening in its housing market. Setting counts for several states side by side would mostly show which states are bigger, so we do not do it.
A single state, with the U.S. total
A count chart shows a single state beside the U.S. total from the same source and period, or the U.S. alone. It never lines up several states. The state shown is the spotlight state of the day, and the spotlight rotates through the states where we are licensed: it is not chosen because of its figure.
The same order every time
When a chart does show several states, they always appear in the same order: Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Texas, then the U.S. A state's place in that order never depends on its figure, and the order never changes from one chart to the next. Our charts do not rank states, and the words on them never call a state first, last, ahead or behind.
What every chart shows
Whatever its kind, every chart names its publisher, the period the figure covers and the date the publisher released it, in a source line under the figure. The figure is shown as the publisher reported it, in the publisher's own unit. When a chart writes a count out in full, as it does for the mortgage counts FHFA publishes in thousands, the chart says so.
Where to go next
The Sources list below links two of the publishers whose figures appear on our charts, one for a dollar figure and one for a count. How to read our housing charts walks through the source line, How to read the five-state panel shows the side-by-side panel, and our property search is open whenever you want to look at homes.