HOME OWNERSHIP AND RENT.

The proportion of families owning their homes, by city, is as follows:

The number and per cent, according to general nativity and race of head of family, are given in the next table:

TABLE 28.-Number and per cent of families owning home, by general nativity and race of head of family.

Approximately one-tenth of all families studied own their homes. The proportion of home owners among the native-born white of native father is considerably less than half as great as among immigrants; the proportion among the native-born of foreign father is a little greater than among the foreign-born. Of the immigrant races the Germans report the largest proportion of home owners; the Swedish rank second in this respect, the Bohemians and Moravians

third, and the Polish fourth. It should be recalled that the households of all four races named are found, for the most part, in the cities on the Great Lakes where property is lower in value and therefore more easily acquired than in the cities farther east.

Households are classified in the following table according to the amount of rent they pay per month per room. The tabulation is by city.

TABLE 29.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by

city.

Rents are higher in the Atlantic coast cities than in the cities on the Great Lakes, and especially high in New York. The average rent per room paid by New York households is $3.89. In only 9.7 per cent of all cases do New York households pay under $3 per room and in only 54.5 per cent do they pay under $4 per room. Rents are lowest in Cleveland, where 91.2 per cent of all households pay under $3 per room and 98.7 per cent pay under $4. It is of interest to recall in this connection that the average number of persons per room is practically the same for the two cities.

Households are classified in the table which follows according to the amount of rent paid per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 30.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household.

[This table includes only races with 20 or more households reporting. The totals, however, are for all races.]

TABLE 30.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per room, by general nativity and race of head of household-Continued."

The average rent per room exceeds $3.25 only among the households of immigrants of the following races: Greek, Russian Hebrew, Hebrew other than Russian, South Italian, Negro, and Syrian. The average rent per room falls below $2.25 only among the second generation Poles, the Poles of foreign birth, the Slovaks, and the Slovenians. The households of immigrants pay, on an average, a higher rent per room than do native households exclusive of negroes, the amounts being $2.90 and $2.51, respectively; 77.8 per cent of the foreign-born, 89.9 per cent of the native-born of foreign father, and 89.6 per cent of the native white of native father pay under $4; 52.2 per cent, 61.8 per cent, and 64.2 per cent, respectively, pay less than $3.

In the next two tables households are classified according to the amount of rent they pay per month per person. In the first table the data are presented by city.

TABLE 31.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by

city.

It will be seen that in all cities rent per person is much lower than rent per room. Forty-four and three-tenths per cent of all households pay under $2 and 85.9 per cent pay under $4. The average rent per person is higher in the Atlantic coast cities than in the cities on the Great Lakes; it is highest in New York and lowest in Cleveland.

The next table shows the per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by general nativity and race of head of household:

TABLE 32.-Per cent of households paying each specified rent per month per person, by general nativity and race of head of household.

Attention has been called to the fact that immigrant households pay, on the whole, higher rents per room than native households exclusive of negroes. From this table it will be seen that the rent per person among foreign households is in general considerably lower than among the native households of the white races. The explanation lies in the fact that the households of immigrants are larger in proportion to the number of rooms they occupy than the households of the native-born in question. That their size is increased in an effort to reduce rent is suggested by the relatively high average of boarders and lodgers among them. It will be recalled that there are 62 boarders or lodgers to every 100 households as compared with 19 to every 100 households of the native-bcrn households exclusive of negroes.

ECONOMIC STATUS.

OCCUPATION IN THE UNITED STATES AND ABROAD.

Something of the equipment of immigrants for industrial life in America is indicated by the following table, which shows for male heads of households who were 16 years of age or older at the time of their arrival in the United States the number and per cent who were engaged in farming in the country of their former residence.

TABLE 33.-Number and per cent of foreign-born male heads of households 16 years of age or over at time of coming to the United States who were engaged in farming abroad, by race of individual.

Nearly two-fifths of the male heads of households 16 years of age or older at the time of arrival in this country were engaged abroad in farming. The per cents of farmers in races represented in the table by 100 or more persons appear below in descending order:

The present occupations of members of households studied are shown in the three tables which follow. Males 16 years of age or over, including heads of households, are classified in the following table according to the employment in which they were engaged within the year ending with the taking of the schedule. The tabulation is by general nativity and race of individual.