Dataset

2015 American Housing Survey (AHS)

Periodicity

The AHS is a longitudinal housing unit survey conducted biennially in odd-numbered years. The 2015 survey included topical questions on the role the arts play in determining where Americans live.

Source/Sponsor

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the AHS is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The special neighborhood arts questions included in the 2015 AHS were developed by the National Endowment for the Arts’ Office of Research & Analysis in partnership with HUD.

Topic

The impact of local arts and cultural events on Americans’ choices about where to live.

Notable Features

Respondents aged 16 years and older were asked about:

• Whether access to arts and cultural events played a role in choosing their current neighborhoods
• The importance of living conveniently near arts and cultural events
• Whether they were satisfied with their access to arts and cultural events
• Whether they agreed or disagreed that the presence of arts and cultural events improves the overall quality of their neighborhoods
• Whether they agreed or disagreed that arts and cultural events improve the image and identity of their neighborhoods

Overview

Thirty-eight percent of U.S. householders (representing 50.7 million households) rated living convenient to arts and cultural events “important” (27 percent) or “very important” (11 percent).

Householders who affirmed the importance of living convenient to arts and cultural events were more likely to be paying a premium for their housing than those who did not affirm this importance.