Where are the Sears Houses - November 2022 Edition

Sears Tarryton - Nutley, New Jersey

What's this? Another update of "Where are the Sears Houses?" But it's been only two months since I posted the last one and that came just 7 weeks after an update in July! What can I say, our intrepid band of kit house researchers has been on a roll. In four months, we've added over 1,000 new houses to the National Database of Sears Homes. I can't promise we'll be able to keep up this pace going forward but it's been exciting for us to see so many new discoveries. All of these new houses has made for some fierce competition among the list of states where Sears houses can be found. Let's take a look! 

Here is the breakdown of location of houses by state based on approximately 15,500 homes in the database. 

As of the date we passed 15,500 houses, Sears houses have been located in 48 states, the District of Columbia and the Provinces of Alberta and Ontario, Canada. The last 2 states outstanding are Arizona and Hawaii. 

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

1. Ohio (3200+ homes): Ohio is closing in on 3,330 homes with almost 70 new homes added since the last update. Ohio continues to account for over 21% of the houses on the list.

2. Illinois (2500+ homes): Illinois is closing in on 2,600 homes with 45 new houses identified. 

Sears Fullerton - Ottawa, Illinois

3. Pennsylvania (2100+ homes): Pennsylvania added almost 50 new homes as it moves closer to the 2,200 home mark. 

4. New York (1800+ homes): New York moved past the 1,800 home total with over 50 new homes as it maintains a solid 4th place. 

Sears Starlight - Newburgh, New York

5. Michigan (1100+ homes): The top 7 states on the list all had double digit number of new homes but Michigan was the lowest at 30. It's still in 5th place but other states are closing in on it. 

6. Indiana (900+): Indiana is just 3 homes shy of 1,000 with the addition almost 60 new homes. 

7. New Jersey (800+): With the addition of 97 new homes, the most of any state this update, New Jersey moved past the 800 homes mark. I'm confident there are many more Sears houses to find in New Jersey and that these numbers will keep on going up. 

8. Maryland (350+): Maryland is slowly making its way towards 400 homes while holding onto 8th place.

9. Virginia (350+): Virginia is keeping pace with Maryland in the number of new homes added. 

10. Washington DC (303): There was no change in the totals for Washington DC with this update. 

11. Kentucky (250+): Kentucky actually went down by one house in this update. I didn't see the specific reason why but likely due to a demolition. 

12. Wisconsin (250+): Wisconsin moved past the 250 homes mark while it maintains twelfth place position on the list. But it may not be there for long with new additions happening in other states on the list. 

13. Connecticut (200+): Connecticut went zooming past the 200 home mark with over 50 new houses added since the last update. Will it pass Wisconsin with the next update? Watch and see! 

Sears No. 102 - Windsor Locks, Connecticut

14. Massachusetts (100+): Massachusetts is getting closer to the 150 home mark with the most recent additions. 

15. West Virginia (100+): West Virginia only added one new home with this update but it stayed in fifteenth place. 

16. Missouri (100+): Missouri is right behind West Virginia in the number of homes located. 

17. Iowa (100+): Iowa continued to add homes as it closes in on Missouri and West Virginia. It's anyone's guess which state will be ahead at the next update. 

Currently, there are 17 states where at least 100 Sears houses have been located within the state. The top 10 states account for 89% of the total number of houses on the list. This is a bit of a drop since the last update as the next 10 states on the list have grown in terms of the total number of homes located in those states. 

Although not one of the top states in the list, South Dakota added 11 new homes taking it over 50 homes documented so far. For the second update in a row, it had the biggest increase among the states that have fewer documented homes. It keeps South Dakota in the top 20 list of states with Sears houses. 

I once again have to make sure to credit our newest member of the kit house research team, Matthew, for an incredible number of finds over the past 2 months. He found over 350 of the 500 homes located since the last update. That's a tremendous number of homes in such a short time period. His discoveries ranged across a number of states and included a number of early models and testimonial houses. 

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.