Where are the Sears Houses - July 2022 Edition

Sears Mitchell - Bedford, Ohio

We're halfway through 2022 and thanks to a lot of hard work by kit house researchers across the US, the National Database of Sears Homes has passed 14,500 documented homes. We picked up the pace of locating houses since the last update, adding 500 new homes in less than 7 months (as compared to 9 months at the previous update). With that mark reached, it's time to post another update of "Where are the Sears Houses?"

Once again, research in mortgages and deeds accounted for a healthy percentage of the new homes added to the list. In addition to the new houses added to the list, that research allowed previously documented houses to be noted as authenticated. There's now over 6,000 authenticated houses which represents the largest list of authenticated Sears houses available. It's the product of a tremendous amount of work by a number of dedicated kit house researchers. 

Here is the breakdown of location of houses by state based on approximately 14,500 homes in the database. 

As of the date we passed 14,500 houses, Sears houses have been located in 47 states, the District of Columbia and the Provinces of Alberta and Ontario, Canada. 

The following is a breakdown of the states that have the largest number of identified Sears homes.

1. Ohio (3100+ homes): Ohio blew right past the 3,000 mark, adding over 100 new homes since the last update. Ohio alone accounts for over 21% of the houses on the list.

2. Illinois (2400+ homes): Illinois fell just shy of 2,500 by one house! This time, I can guarantee it will pass that mark by the next update. 

3. Pennsylvania (2000+ homes): Pennsylvania is closing in on 2,100 homes as it maintains third place on the list.  

4. New York (1700+ homes): New York continues to hold down fourth place as it gets closer to 1,750 homes. 

5. Michigan (1000+ homes): Michigan enjoyed a big jump since the last update and is poised to hit the 1,100 mark by the next update.  

6. Indiana (700+): Indiana is getting close to passing the 800 home mark.  

7. New Jersey (600+): I thought New Jersey might reach the 700 home mark this update. It didn't but I'm confident it will by the next one. 

8. Maryland (350+): Maryland's added a handful of homes as it slowly climbs towards 400 homes. 

9. Virginia (300+): Virginia saw one of the biggest increases, adding over 70 new homes and leapfrogging past Washington DC to move into 9th place on the list. Many of those new homes were thanks to the hard work that Judith Chabot did on mortgage research in the Arlington area

10. Washington DC (304): No change in Washington DC's totals for this update. 

11. Kentucky (250+): Kentucky added enough homes to move past the 250 homes mark.

12. Wisconsin (200+): Wisconsin is closing in on 250 homes while it maintains twelfth place position on the list. 

13. Connecticut (150+): Connecticut only added a handful of homes but enough to move it past the 150 homes mark. 

14. Massachusetts (100+): Massachusetts added several new homes since the last update. 

15. Missouri (100+): Missouri added a few homes and continued to stay in fifteenth place. 

Currently, there are 15 states where at least 100 Sears houses have been located within the state. The top 10 states account for 90% of the total number of houses on the list. Although not one of the top states in the list, North Carolina added 10 new homes taking it over 60 homes documented so far. That was the biggest increase among the states that have fewer documented homes. 

The national database of Sears Modern Homes is the collective work of a number of kit house researchers located across the country. The sources of the information in the database include the personal work of those researchers, the work of other kit house researchers, publicly available resources including newspapers and websites and information provided by home owners and other members of the public with an interest in kit houses.