The ABQJournal tells MHProNews that the Farmington, New Mexico metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has the highest percentage of manufactured housing as part if its inventory of any metro area in the U. S., at 32 percent. Two-thirds of the county’s 128,529 residents live outside the city in rural areas, including the Navajo Nation, where manufactured housing is the most cost effective in such a remote area of rugged terrain, says realtor Theresa McBee. Tom Schadler of Clayton Homes in Farmington, noting many of the homes sold go to Indian Reservations, says, “Price per square foot is a major factor,” he said. “A lot of ours will be under $40 a square foot. A high-end one might be $60 a square foot, which is still half what a stick-built (or conventional) home costs.” Yuma Ariz. is second with 29 percent of the housing being factory-built, and third place is Havasu/Kingman, Ariz at 26.7 percent. Interestingly, Farmington shows up again in the Census Bureau study of MSAs for having the third most one-room housing units, trailing Manhattan, Kan. and Myrtle Beach, SC.

(Image credit: manufacturedhomesource–Santa Fe homes, NM)