Zillow Data: US Cities by Single Family Homes For Sale, With Swimming Pools

[dimondpark]

I went to zillow with just 2 criteria:

1st, Single Family Homes for sale, that 2nd, have a Swimming Pool...

here are the results as of July 19, 2022

City Proper, State/ Homes For Sale with Swimming Pools:
Las Vegas, NV 1,311
Phoenix, AZ 1,055
Houston, TX 526
Los Angeles, CA 520
Mesa, AZ 303
New York, NY 275
Miami, FL 272
Tucson, AZ 253
Austin, TX 238
Dallas, TX 235
San Antonio, TX 198
San Diego, CA 187
Jacksonville, FL 183
Bakersfield, CA 168
Fresno, CA 158
Forth Worth, TX 121
El Paso, TX 98
Atlanta, GA 68
Nashville, TN 66
Virginia Beach, VA 66
San Jose, CA 59
Albuquerque, NM 48
Charlotte, NC 46
Memphis, TN 46
Sacramento, CA 45
Indianapolis, IN 30
Long Beach, CA 28
Raleigh, NC 28
Louisville, KY 19
Omaha, NE 15
Kansas City, MO 14
Washington, DC 8
Denver, CO 7
Oklahoma City, OK 6
Seattle, WA 6
Chicago, IL 5
Detroit, MI 5
Philadelphia, PA 5
Portland, OR 5
Colorado Springs, CO 4
Oakland, CA 4
Boston, MA 3
Minneapolis, MN 3
Columbus, OH 2
Baltimore, MD 1
San Francisco, CA 1

Source: Zillow

[Steely Dan]

The general gist of the list seems to be: the more suburban a city proper is, the mores homes there are with backyard pools, with the glaring, surprising exception of NYC. Are they all out on Staten Island or something?

Given chicago's small lot sizes, backyard pools are pretty damn rare in the city, as indicated by these results.

[iheartthed]

I'm sure they exist, but I don't think I've ever seen a house with an in-ground pool in NYC. OTOH, I know of several houses with in-ground pools in Detroit.

[homebucket]

You need access to a pool in Vegas and Phoenix to survive those summers. If I lived there, I'd practically be amphibious. For the home office, forget the standing desk, give me a partially submerged lounge chair and side table.

[austlar1]

I think the Dallas and FW numbers might be misleading. I did a similar search for the entire DFW region and came up with 1286 SFHs with pool listings. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...Zoom%22%3A9%7D

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by austlar1

I think the Dallas and FW numbers might be misleading. I did a similar search for the entire DFW region and came up with 1286 SFHs with pool listings. https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...Zoom%22%3A9%7D

I just did city proper.

Otherwise Metro Phoenix has 3500+

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by dimondpark

I just did city proper.

Otherwise Metro Phoenix has 3500+

Oof. It's a bit disturbing that the city with the least amount of water has the most swimming pools.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm sure they exist, but I don't think I've ever seen a house with an in-ground pool in NYC.

In 46 years of living here, I've have never seen an in-ground residential pool within city limits Chicago. The handful of times I've come across a backyard pool in the city, they've always been relatively small above-ground circle or oval pools uncomfortably shoe-horned into a typical Chicago "postage stamp" backyard.

My aunt and uncle who used to live down by MDW decades ago had one of those. It was cool I guess, but it also ate up over 75% of their modest little bungalow's backyard.

[SacTownAndy]

I just bought a house with a backyard pool in Sacramento and while I was looking at listings over the last few months many were misleading. Redfin, Zillow, Realtor, etc list the house as "having a pool" but most were shared club house pools (HOA), not private backyard pools.

[Crawford]

I'm confused. A Zillow "NYC" search would only show listings in Manhattan. Given the number of Manhattan SFHs is near-zero, the number of Manhattan SFHs with in-ground outdoor pools has to be tiny, perhaps even zero. The search should probably show zero, unless it's just pulling "pools", which would be indoors.

There are no doubt far, far more in-ground indoor pools in Manhattan, both in SFHs and multifamily. Manhattan townhouse listings very frequently have underground (excavated subbasement) pools, and obviously large apartment buildings have indoor pools. There's also a niche developer from Singapore who built a few Manhattan boutique condo buildings where individual units have in-unit mini-lap pools.

You see outdoor, in-ground pools in brownstone Brooklyn, however. I wouldn't say it's common, but it isn't super-rare either.

Also, Zillow is garbage for NYC listings. Streeteasy is the only comprehensive site for NYC for sale/for rent properties.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

In 46 years of living here, I've have never seen an in-ground residential pool within city limits Chicago. The handful of times I've come across a backyard pool in the city, they've always been relatively small above-ground circle or oval pools uncomfortably shoe-horned into a typical Chicago "postage stamp" backyard.

My aunt and uncle who used to live down by MDW decades ago had one of those. It was cool I guess, but it also ate up over 75% of their modest little bungalow's backyard.

I own an apartment building on the below block, and get invited to this pool all.the.time.; there are also a few other families in in the vicinity with above ground pools, i've never seen an in ground pool in Chicago, I think they might be illegal.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8317...7i16384!8i8192

There are quite a few people with pools in Bridgeport.


Edit: These guys might have an inground pool in the city, hard to tell:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8317.../data=!3m1!1e3


Also, my parents live on Staten Island, and there are plenty of pools there. Bridgeport and Staten Island people are very similar, they are my people.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/St...!4d-74.1502007

[lio45]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'm sure they exist, but I don't think I've ever seen a house with an in-ground pool in NYC. OTOH, I know of several houses with in-ground pools in Detroit.

Challenge accepted!

I found a handful in this area of Queens.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Qu...!4d-73.7948516

[plinko]

Orlando is missing?

[hauntedheadnc]

Greenville city: 18

Greenville County: 39

Sexiest beasts with pools currently for sale:

2 West Hillcrest Drive, Greenville

102 Weatherby Drive, Greenville

207 Jessen Drive, Greenville

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

In 46 years of living here, I've have never seen an in-ground residential pool within city limits Chicago. The handful of times I've come across a backyard pool in the city, they've always been relatively small above-ground circle or oval pools uncomfortably shoe-horned into a typical Chicago "postage stamp" backyard.

Yeah, same in NYC. All of the outdoor pools I've seen at houses here have been above ground.

Originally Posted by lio45

Challenge accepted!

I found a handful in this area of Queens.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Qu...!4d-73.7948516

Yeah, if I were hunting for one inside the 5 boroughs, this is one of the areas where I'd expect to find one. I'm sure there are also some on Staten Island, maybe Midwood in Brooklyn, and Riverdale in the Bronx. The lot sizes aren't really conducive to an in-ground outdoor pool anywhere else in the city. I don't even know how you'd get an above ground pool into the backyard of a townhouse or brownstone, let alone an in-ground pool.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Yeah, same in NYC. All of the outdoor pools I've seen at houses here have been above ground.



Yeah, if I were hunting for one inside the 5 boroughs, this is one of the areas where I'd expect to find one. I'm sure there are also some on Staten Island, maybe Midwood in Brooklyn, and Riverdale in the Bronx. The lot sizes aren't really conducive to an in-ground outdoor pool anywhere else in the city. I don't even know how you'd get an above ground pool into the backyard of a townhouse or brownstone, let alone an in-ground pool.

I wonder if the NY number includes condominiums in buildings with pools?

Otherwise, the only places I can think of where it's possible are Staten Island, far eastern/northeastern Queens (Flushing, College Point, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Bayside) and bits of the Bronx. Even so, that's a lot of pools for NYC.

[Crawford]

You excavate, and build below the yard or home. It's done frequently. The SY (Syrian Jewish) part of Midwood, Brooklyn has a ton.

But indoors. Lots are generally too small for outdoor pools, except in some fringe neighborhoods. And it's obviously extremely expensive.

[Crawford]

This part of Midwood, Brooklyn frequently has indoor pools, in deep basement excavations. They can have more space below ground than above ground, due to zoning restrictions.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5975...7i16384!8i8192

I doubt they would show up in Zillow listings, however. This is a very insular neighborhood that is almost 100% Syrian Jews, and listings wouldn't be made public, but sold within the community. Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods don't really have public listings.

One of these homes just went for over $14 million.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Crawford

You excavate, and build below the yard or home. It's done frequently. The SY (Syrian Jewish) part of Midwood, Brooklyn has a ton.

But indoors. Lots are generally too small for outdoor pools, except in some fringe neighborhoods. And it's obviously extremely expensive.

Originally Posted by Crawford

This part of Midwood, Brooklyn frequently has indoor pools, in deep basement excavations. They can have more space below ground than above ground, due to zoning restrictions.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5975...7i16384!8i8192

I doubt they would show up in Zillow listings, however. This is a very insular neighborhood that is almost 100% Syrian Jews, and listings wouldn't be made public, but sold within the community. Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods don't really have public listings.

One of these homes just went for over $14 million.

I'd be curious to see an example of that. Must be horribly expensive. It would likely be cheaper to just fly to a tropical destination every time you feel like going into the water.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

i've never seen an in ground pool in Chicago, I think they might be illegal.

from this link i found, in-ground pools are not outright illegal in the city of chicago, but there are some limitations on what you can do with an in-ground pool that makes them very impractical for like 95% of the city.

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/...ls.8.19.20.pdf

according to my reading of that, any above-ground or in-ground pool with a water depth of less than 4' and a maximum volume of less than 5,000 gallons can be built on a residential city lot without a permit.

at a consistent water depth of 4', that's only a 10'x16' rectangle or 14.5' diameter circle. that's not a terribly large pool, and if you're going through the giant expense of digging a pit for an in-ground pool, it's probably just not worth it for such a small pool.

now, if you want to put in a pool deeper/bigger than that, then you need to get a building permit, and to do that, you must meet certain criteria governing larger pools, and here's where it gets interesting. any pool deeper than 4' has to be set back at least 10' from all property lines in all directions. and given that standard city lots are only 25' wide, that means you'd only be able to put in a 5' wide pool in most city back yards, which would be very silly, which is likely why you almost never see deep/large in-ground pools in chicago back yards.

so in-ground backyard swimming pools aren't exactly illegal in chicago, they can only be relatively shallow/small or comically narrow if deeper.