Manufactured housing is typically the most affordable non-subsidized housing option in most markets. Roughly 7% of the US population lives factory-built manufactured homes and shipments of these units represent roughly 10% of housing starts in a typical year (although they are not included in the official US Census Bureau estimates).

Due to local zoning ordinances, the placement of manufactured homes ("MH") and recreational vehicles ("RV") is generally limited by municipalities to designated "land lease" communities, of which there are roughly 38,000 across the country.