In a two-story house, the washer and dryer can go on either floor. In a new home, the builder's plan has usually made that choice already, so it helps to know how often each option turns up.
The Census Bureau's Survey of Construction records where each sampled new house has its washer and dryer connections: basement, first floor, second floor or higher, garage or carport, more than one place, or none planned. That's a record of the hookups, not of a separate laundry room or where the machines end up. OneFabHome looked at the two-story homes finished in 2025. Census counts one-and-a-half story homes as two-story.
Attached homes: 64.4% upstairs
Attached homes are single-family homes that share a wall with a neighbor, such as townhouses and row houses. They're where upstairs laundry is the norm. Of 1,311 attached two-story homes in the sample, 64.4% have the connections on the second floor or higher, and 34.0% on the first floor. Basement laundry is almost absent at 1.5%.
Where the washer and dryer connections are, two-story homes
Source: Census Bureau Survey of Construction, homes completed in 2025, weighted.
Detached houses: close to an even split
Detached two-story houses are split. 45.3% have the laundry upstairs and 51.6% on the first floor. Basements (1.6%), garages (0.3%) and homes with connections in more than one place (0.9%) are all small.
The difference holds within one size band. Comparing only homes of 2,000 to 2,499 square feet, 68.6% of attached two-story homes and 53.7% of detached ones put the laundry upstairs. The attached figure is an estimate based on 229 sampled homes.
The share varies widely by region
For detached two-story houses, the share with upstairs laundry differs a great deal between Census divisions. In the Pacific states, 76.5% of new detached two-story homes had the laundry upstairs. In the West South Central states, which include Texas, it was 12.3%.
Detached two-story homes with the laundry upstairs, by Census division
Source: Census Bureau Survey of Construction, homes completed in 2025, weighted.
The West North Central states stand out for another reason: 17.9% of their new detached two-story homes put the laundry in the basement, far more than any other division. In the South Atlantic, South Central, Mountain and Pacific divisions, under 2% of new detached two-story homes did.
The survey doesn't record why builders in each region choose as they do. What it does show is that in the West South Central division, an upstairs laundry is an uncommon plan for a new detached two-story home, and in the Pacific division a first-floor laundry is the less common one.
One-story homes put it on the main floor
For comparison, 97.2% of new one-story homes had the laundry on the main floor. Only 1.4% used a basement and 0.3% the garage or carport. If you want a laundry in the garage, new construction rarely offers it.
What this means when you compare plans
- In an attached two-story home, expect the laundry upstairs. A first-floor laundry plan exists, but in only about a third of new ones (34.0%).
- In a detached two-story home, the answer depends on the region. In the Pacific states about three new homes in four had it upstairs; in the West South Central states it was about one in eight.
- If stairs are the issue, for example for an older relative or a planned move to single-floor living, 97.2% of new one-story homes had the laundry on the main floor.
- Outside the West North Central states, under 10% of new detached two-story homes in each division had a basement laundry.
Questions to ask on a viewing
- If the laundry is upstairs, is there a floor drain or a drain pan under the washer, and what room sits directly below it?
- Is the laundry a separate room with a door, or a closet off a hallway or bedroom? The survey only records where the hookups are.
- For a downstairs laundry, how far is it from the bedrooms, and do you have to carry baskets up a staircase every load?
- Is the dryer vented to an outside wall, and how long is the vent run?
More from the same survey
Layout choices in the same new homes are covered in three or four bedrooms in the same size house and two-car or three-car garages. Region matters just as much for how long a house takes to build and for how often a new home comes with a homeowners association.