Right now, there are roughly 373,000 community associations across the country, and the Foundation for Community Association Research expects another 3,000-4,000 to form in 2026 alone. That’s a lot of new contracts up for grabs, and for most management companies, that’s good news. Retention numbers back that up, with 76% of firms reporting retention rates of 95%+.

The number of community associations is growing, and by the end of 2026, there might be an addition of 3,000-4,000 new communities. The managers running those communities are hitting a wall. A July 2026 survey of about 287 community association professionals found 71% dealing with moderate to severe burnout, and 80% are already considering leaving the profession because of stress.

The residents in your communities aren’t comparing your response time to the other management companies. They’re measuring you against their bank’s instant chat, their package delivery tracker, and the help experience they get from their subscription apps. Research by LiveChatAI shows that around 60% of customers today define “immediate” as a reply within 10 minutes or less. And people aren’t benchmarking you against a similar service, but against the best experience they’ve had anywhere. That moving target is the invisible bar your residents carry into every request they send you.

Community associations across the U.S. collected $124.2 billion in assessments in 2025. That’s one of the largest pooled-money systems in American residential life. And yet, a large number of communities are broke. The best data that shows communities are struggling financially is the Association Reserves analysis. From their report, 74% of HOAs are currently underfunded, which is the highest rate the firm has ever recorded.

Community associations house about 78.1 million residents, and that’s a massive population generating questions, maintenance requests, complaints, and concerns daily. According to a CAI report, 86% of those residents rate their experience living in a community association as positive or neutral, and 72% say their community manager provides real value. But when we look at the 14% reporting a negative experience, the problem is communication. And that 14% isn’t a small number by any means. It represents around 11 million Americans.

There are now 373,000 community associations across the country, housing 78.1 million Americans. Those residents collectively contribute more than $124.2 billion in annual assessments. Behind every dollar is an expectation that their community will be well-managed, shared spaces will be maintained, and when something goes wrong, the management will be reachable. And that expectation is […]

If you’re on an HOA board in Los Angeles, you’re safeguarding one of the last realistic paths to ownership many Angelenos have left. Roughly one in four Americans now lives inside a community association. California carries more of that load than any state, with an estimated 51,700 associations, many of them in the LA basin. […]

Burnout doesn’t look like burnout while it’s happening. The manager in trouble is usually still hitting deadlines, still making board meetings, and still answering homeowner inquiries, until the time they hand you their notice. If you’re the one with managers reporting to you, it’s your job to catch it before they do. And to catch […]

There are 373,000 community associations across the U.S., home to around 78.1 million residents in HOAs, condos, and co-ops. Behind all of that is a small workforce of about 60,000 to 65,000 community managers. And because of the big mismatch in numbers, a full-time CAM runs 8 to 10 communities, each with its own board, […]

If I asked you right now what’s sitting on each of your managers’ plates, which board is waiting on a reserve study, which vendor still hasn’t called back, and which resident has emailed repeatedly about the same issue, could you answer without picking up the phone? For a lot of the management companies I talk […]

A good HOA website does more than make a community look professional. It gives residents one dependable place to find information, complete common tasks and stay connected to what is happening in their neighborhood. The best HOA websites help residents quickly answer questions such as: However, not every HOA website is equally useful. Some look […]

A practical buyer’s guide for self-managed communities and community management companies Most “best HOA software” articles start with a ranked list of vendors. That can be useful when you already know exactly what you need. But for most boards and management teams, the harder question comes first: what actually makes one HOA management platform better […]

Communication problems in community management are never a shortage of channels. It’s the opposite. Residents text, email, and message through the portal, sometimes about the same issue on the same day, and none of those channels know the others exist. And what worsens the problem is scale. Community associations are now home to 78.1 million […]

The state your community sits in can shape your board’s legal and financial exposure, and reserve funding is where that shows up most. Florida is the clearest example. For years, boards there could vote annually to waive reserve contributions entirely, letting associations defer funding the roof or the parking structure indefinitely. That loophole closed after […]

Roughly 373,000 homeowner associations and condo associations are operating nationwide as of 2025, and close to 80 million Americans live inside one. Almost none of those residents negotiated a single clause of what governs them. And if you ask homeowners what’s actually written in their association’s governing documents, most will just give a vague memory […]