Our built environment affects our quality of life and this indicator is important because the age of housing stock provides a rough estimate of the quality of housing stock.  In Pierce County there are many well-maintained older homes that are important to our local history and help preserve our historic character.  It can also be said that older houses also tend to have more problems.  Older homes can contain environmental hazards (e.g., asbestos and lead-based paint) and in the worst cases be health and safety hazards.  Substandard older housing is often occupied by those residents least able to afford the regular maintenance required of an older home, or be rented to tenants that would choose to not report code or health violations for fear of reprisal.
In Pierce County, approximately one-third of the housing stock was built prior to 1970, approximately one third was built between 1970 and 1989, and the final third was built after 1990.  Renter households occupy 36% of all housing units.  Below is a chart that shows the quantity of housing-units built by time period and tenure.