HUD Code
The federal construction and safety standard for manufactured homes, in effect since June 15, 1976, that distinguishes manufactured homes from older mobile homes.
Published May 31, 2026
The HUD Code is the common name for the federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, the national standard that manufactured homes must be built to. It took effect on June 15, 1976, and is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The HUD Code is the line that separates today's terminology. Factory-built homes constructed to this federal standard are manufactured homes; homes built before the standard took effect are generally called mobile homes. A modular home is different again — it is factory-built but constructed to the same state or local building codes as a site-built house, not to the HUD Code.
Because the standard is federal, it applies uniformly regardless of which state a home is built in or placed in. The HUD Code governs construction and safety; how a home is titled, taxed, and financed is a separate matter of state law and whether the home is treated as personal property or real property.
This is general information, not legal advice.