The Top States to be a Home Inspector
We analyzed home sales and number of home inspectors in
each state to give you the top states to start a home inspection business in.
Summary
- Arizona and North Carolina remain in the top 5 states, with Massachusetts, Washington DC and Arkansas entering
- Mississippi, Montana and Utah came in at the bottom
- Data is based on number of homes sold in the last 30 days as of July 25th (Zillow) divided by the number of registered InterNACHI inspectors in each state
There are 600 MLS in the US. All with different data sharing contracts with Zillow. Getting accurate sales data is near impossible.
Zillow seems to be the most accurate aggregator of this data.
We compared the sold numbers to the MLS here in CO, and it was close enough to draw conclusions from.
The Full List
State | Inspectors | Closings L30 Days | Inspections/Inspector/Month |
Massachusetts | 173 | 8,708 | 50.3 |
DC | 17 | 855 | 50.3 |
Arizona | 323 | 15,240 | 47.2 |
Arkansas | 128 | 4,674 | 36.5 |
North Carolina | 662 | 23,762 | 35.9 |
Wisconsin | 289 | 10,104 | 35.0 |
Minnesota | 311 | 9,628 | 31.0 |
Nevada | 193 | 5,942 | 30.8 |
Delaware | 54 | 1,639 | 30.4 |
Rhode Island | 53 | 1,527 | 28.8 |
Iowa | 159 | 4,557 | 28.7 |
Nebraska | 84 | 2,322 | 27.6 |
Connecticut | 204 | 5,569 | 27.3 |
Virginia | 600 | 13,678 | 22.8 |
New York | 882 | 18,622 | 21.1 |
Kentucky | 261 | 5,302 | 20.3 |
Pennsylvania | 914 | 18,557 | 20.3 |
Alaska | 51 | 984 | 19.3 |
Ohio | 1,085 | 20,745 | 19.1 |
South Carolina | 404 | 7,713 | 19.1 |
Illinois | 969 | 17,890 | 18.5 |
Tennessee | 756 | 13,869 | 18.3 |
California | 1,896 | 34,683 | 18.3 |
Indiana | 491 | 8,974 | 18.3 |
New Jersey | 736 | 13,043 | 17.7 |
Alabama | 461 | 8,120 | 17.6 |
Michigan | 800 | 13,874 | 17.3 |
Missouri | 456 | 7,716 | 16.9 |
Maryland | 652 | 10,359 | 15.9 |
Washington | 810 | 12,759 | 15.8 |
Oregon | 440 | 6,622 | 15.1 |
Louisiana | 277 | 4,129 | 14.9 |
New Hampshire | 179 | 2,592 | 14.5 |
Georgia | 1,257 | 18,197 | 14.5 |
Maine | 186 | 2,627 | 14.1 |
Vermont | 71 | 978 | 13.8 |
Kansas | 204 | 2,709 | 13.3 |
South Dakota | 66 | 861 | 13.0 |
Hawaii | 124 | 1,614 | 13.0 |
Oklahoma | 505 | 6,100 | 12.1 |
West Virginia | 163 | 1,792 | 11.0 |
Idaho | 237 | 2,535 | 10.7 |
Colorado | 1,135 | 11,399 | 10.0 |
Florida | 5,090 | 50,721 | 10.0 |
New Mexico | 186 | 1,733 | 9.3 |
North Dakota | 82 | 714 | 8.7 |
Texas | 2,178 | 16,687 | 7.7 |
Wyoming | 63 | 390 | 6.2 |
Mississippi | 170 | 586 | 3.4 |
Montana | 226 | 628 | 2.8 |
Utah | 282 | 581 | 2.1 |
How This Data Can be Used
Most inspectors don't know what percentage of market share they own.
When they do, we're impressed. More inspectors should know these numbers. Hence this research.
At Spectora, we think every home inspector that has visions of growing needs to know their market's numbers.
How many listings and closings are happening each month, and how much share of that you're getting. Or want to get.
This should be extremely motivating to existing inspectors (in any state) to see how many closings are happening each month.
If you're thinking about getting in the home inspection game..
Then this data might be helpful to you. If there is high number of home sales and low number of home inspectors, like in Arizona for example, then it could be a good place to become a home inspector.
Data is changing quickly nowadays with rates and the economy. June was a month of transition with higher mortgage rates settling in. We will continue to seek out accurate and updated data as the year progresses.
Notes on the Data
- This was done under the assumption that most home inspectors are members of InterNACHI. (90+% of surveyed Spectora users are members of InterNACHI) ASHI doesn't publish their numbers. Data could be skewed in states were ASHI is more prominent.
- Some states may have underreported closing data from Zillow, due to contracts with different MLS platforms.
Do you think your state is a great state to be a home inspector in? Let us know in the comments!