Untapped home equity by state: a 2026 data study
U.S. homeowners are sitting on roughly $17 trillion in home equity — and about $11 trillion of it is "tappable" yet largely unused. As of the end of 2025, 44.6% of all mortgaged homes were "equity-rich" (the owner owes 50% or less of the home's value), and the average mortgage holder had about $295,000 in equity. But that wealth is wildly uneven by state: Vermont tops the country at 87.0% equity-rich, while Louisiana sits last at 20.1%. Here's the full 2026 picture, and how to find out how much of your own equity is sitting idle.
- ~$17 trillion in total U.S. home equity; roughly $11 trillion of it tappable but unused.
- 44.6% of mortgaged homes were equity-rich at the end of 2025 — down from 47.7% a year earlier as price growth cooled.
- Vermont (87.0%) leads the nation by a wide margin; Louisiana (20.1%) trails it.
- The average mortgage holder has about $295,000 in equity — most never touch it.
- See your own number with the free home equity calculator.
The $11 trillion that's just sitting there
"Tappable" equity is the slice you could borrow against while still leaving a healthy 20% cushion in the home. At the end of 2025, that pool stood near $11 trillion across roughly 48 million mortgaged homeowners — a record, and the source of the highest home-equity withdrawals since 2008. Yet most of it never moves. Homeowners hold the equity as paper wealth, often without knowing how much is accessible or what it could replace: higher-rate credit-card balances, a renovation, a tuition bill, or retirement income.
That gap between equity owned and equity used is the story of 2026. With mortgage balances low relative to home values, the typical owner has more borrowing power than at almost any point in history — but uncertainty and unfamiliarity keep most of it idle.
The national picture: equity is softening, but still historically strong
The share of equity-rich homes has eased for several straight quarters as home-price growth flattened in parts of the Sunbelt and West:
- Q4 2024: 47.7% of mortgaged homes equity-rich
- Q3 2025: 46.1%
- Q4 2025: 44.6%
- Q1 2026: 43.3% — the softening continued into the new year
Even after the slide, the picture is strong by historical standards: only about 3.0% of mortgaged homes were "seriously underwater" (owing at least 25% more than the home is worth) at the end of 2025 — near record lows. The equity is there. The question is whether owners use it.
Most equity-rich states (Q4 2025)
A home is equity-rich when the combined loans against it are 50% or less of its market value. By that measure, the Northeast and Mountain West dominate — older, lower-turnover housing markets where owners have held and paid down for years.
| Rank | State | Equity-rich share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 87.0% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 60.2% |
| 3 | Rhode Island | 59.4% |
| 4 | Maine | 58.1% |
| 5 | Montana | 57.3% |
Vermont is the national outlier — at 87%, nearly nine in ten of its mortgaged homeowners owe less than half what their home is worth, by far the widest equity margin in the country.
Least equity-rich states (Q4 2025)
At the other end are states with newer mortgages, faster recent price growth that hasn't yet seasoned into equity, or softer home values:
| Rank | State | Equity-rich share |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | Louisiana | 20.1% |
| 49 | Maryland | 28.4% |
| 48 | District of Columbia | 30.0% |
| 47 | Kentucky | 32.1% |
| 46 | Iowa | 32.9% |
The cautionary tale: Florida
No state shows the shift more clearly than Florida. Its equity-rich share fell from 50.9% in Q4 2024 to 43.9% in Q4 2025 — a 7.0-point drop in a single year, one of the steepest in the country, as Sunbelt home prices cooled from their pandemic-era highs. Florida is a reminder that equity is a snapshot, not a guarantee: it builds slowly through payments and price gains, and it can thin out quickly when the market turns. That's an argument for understanding — and, where it makes sense, using — equity while it's there, rather than treating it as a number that only ever goes up.
What this means for your home
National averages don't pay your bills — your own equity does. If you're equity-rich, you likely have several ways to put that idle value to work, each with very different costs and risks:
- See how much you have first. Start with the home equity calculator — value minus what you owe.
- Borrow a flexible line. A HELOC lets you draw as needed; estimate the payment before you commit.
- Take a fixed lump sum. Compare a home equity loan against a cash-out refinance — one stacks a second loan, the other replaces your mortgage.
- If you're 62+, a reverse mortgage can convert equity into income with no monthly payment.
The headline of the 2026 data is simple: there has rarely been more home equity, and rarely has so much of it gone unused. Knowing your number is the first step to deciding whether any of it should.
Methodology & sources
Equity-rich and seriously-underwater shares are from ATTOM's U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report (Q4 2025, with the Q1 2026 update). "Equity-rich" means combined loan balances of 50% or less of estimated market value; "seriously underwater" means balances at least 25% above value. Total and tappable equity figures (~$17T total, ~$11T tappable, ~$295K average) are from The Mortgage Reports and ICE Mortgage Monitor data for year-end 2025. Figures are point-in-time estimates and shift each quarter. Educational only — not financial advice.
Found this useful? You're welcome to cite or link to this page. Source: HomeEquityWise — Untapped Home Equity by State (2026).