Modern multifamily buildings are safer from fires than single-family homes
Despite popular perception that multifamily buildings are inherently dangerous during fires, data indicates that modern multifamily structures are significantly safer than single-family homes and, maybe not surprisingly, older multifamily buildings.
The rate of fire death in modern apartments is one-sixth the rate of single-family houses and apartment buildings built before 2000, according to a report by The Pew Charitable Trusts. There has been a longstanding trend towards safer apartment homes. The rate of deaths in multifamily buildings fell from 7.1 deaths per 1,000 reported fires in 1980 to 5.2 deaths per 1,000 fires in 2023, Pew says.
Modern Multifamily Buildings Are Safer From Fires
Other findings include:
- 6% of Americans live in modern apartments, but only 1% of residential fire deaths in 2023 occurred in these buildings.
- The fire death rate for modern multifamily buildings was less than one-fourth the rate in modern single-family homes.
- The results were similar across multiple states, indicating a consistent trend.
- The 2023 results show the same pattern as data examined for certain states from 2013 to 2024, demonstrating that 2023 was not an outlier.
- Modern single-family homes are also much safer than older ones. Single-family homes built since 2010 have a fire-death rate that is one-third the death rate of homes built prior to 1970.
- Of the 19 states that experienced 50 or more deaths, 18 had lower fire death rates in modern multifamily buildings than in single-family homes.
- There was substantial variation in fire death rates by state. This could be due to the stringency of building codes, age, and upkeep of the housing stock, fire service funding and preparedness, and numerous other factors.
- The fire death rates for both single- and multifamily housing are very similar for homes built up until 1980, after which multifamily begins to show a greater reduction in fire deaths.
- Widespread adoption of the national model building code beginning in the 1980s is a likely driver of improved fire safety.