King County ranked No. 7 in the country last year for counties spending the most money on remodeling

According a National Association of Home Builders survey released on March 15, King County homeowners spent an estimated $2,295 million on their projects, averaging $4,914. Neighboring Snohomish County was ranked No. 64 with $665 million and an average of $3,768, while Pierce County checked in at No. 73 with $615 million and an average of $3,323. A total of 3,143 counties were surveyed. Total remodeling spending in a particular county is obviously related to the number of homeowners in the county. Los Angeles County led the country at $9.4 billion. Rounding out the top five list is Cook County in Illinois, Orange and San Diego counties in California, and Maricopa County in Arizona. The NAHB model uses data from the American Housing Survey - which is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau - to estimate local remodeling based on home and homeowner characteristics. It is then applied to the information on every county's homes and home owners that the Census Bureau released late last year from its American Community Survey. The new NAHB estimates include remodeling spending per owner-occupied home. Nantucket County Massachusetts leads the nation on remodeling spending per home at $9,369. Other counties in the top five include New York County (Manhattan) and three counties in the San Francisco Metropolitan area. In each of these counties, remodeling is over $8,000 per owner-occupied home. In comparison, the average across all counties nationwide is $2,085.