News release: “A new housing brief from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that median home values in many small counties across the nation held steady after the most recent recession, while values in large counties declined. These findings come from the Census Bureau’s brief, Home Value and Homeownership Rates: Recession and Post-Recession Comparisons From 2007-2009 to 2010-2012, which uses the American Community Survey three-year estimates to focus on homeownership rates and home values for smaller areas. The small-area statistics from the American Community Survey show that in 66.9 percent of the 1,038 smaller counties (with populations between 20,000 and 65,000) the median home value in the post-recession period of 2010-2012 was not statistically different from the recession period of 2007-2009. Similarly, the median home values in 37 of the 50 smallest counties of this size were not statistically different from the recession period. In contrast, median home values in 43 of the 50 largest counties declined over the same period. Nationally, the median home value was $174,600 in the post-recession period, a $17,300 decline from the recession period of 2007-2009…In addition to housing statistics, more than 40 topics are available with today’s release, such as educational attainment, employment, commuting, language spoken at home, nativity and ancestry. For the first time, comparison profiles are also available for the three-year statistics, allowing smaller communities to compare changes over time in their social, economic and housing characteristics more easily.”