ABSTRACT The residence of hundreds of millions of people in the floating population is an important issue in China's urbanization. Using nationally representative household panel data collected during 2015–2019, this study shows that farmers' off‐farm income positively affects not only their intention to purchase urban homes but also their actual home purchases. However, further analysis shows that most farmers' urban homes are located in their home counties, while only 1% of farmers have an urban home outside their home counties. Based on these results, it is expected that China‐style urbanization will be accompanied by a continuous floating population in the future.