Nearly Half of Renter Households Cost-Burdened, Census Bureau Reports

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Over 21 million renter households spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2023; representing nearly half of the renter households for whom rent burden is calculated, the Census Bureau reported.

Although the median ratio of income-to-housing costs for renters remained unchanged from 2022 at 31%, there are differences in the income-to-housing cost ratio when comparing across householder’s race, Census said in its American Community Survey.

“Housing costs rose between 2022 and 2023 for both homeowners and renters,” said Molly Ross, a survey statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau. She noted the median cost of housing for renters rose from $1,354 to $1,406 after adjusting for inflation.

HUD considers households “cost-burdened” if they spend more than 30% of their income on rent, mortgage payments and other housing costs. Households spending more than 50% of their income on housing costs are considered severely cost-burdened.

Ross said new data from the ACS show that the share of a rented household’s income that goes toward these housing costs differs by householder race. Within Black or African American alone renter households, or households where the householder identified as being only Black or African American, 4.6 million (56.2%) paid more than 30% of their income on housing costs last year, the report said. Another 2.0 million (54.7%) Some Other Race alone renter households were cost-burdened.

While renters had a higher median housing cost as a percentage of income (31.0%) compared to homeowners (21.1% for homeowners with a mortgage and 11.5% for those without a mortgage), 18.8 million homeowners were spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

One of the costs impacting homeowners was insurance. The report said 5.4 million of the 85.7 million homeowners in the United States paid $4,000 a year or more for homeowner’s insurance in 2023. Florida had the highest number (1.2 million) of homeowners paying $4,000 a year or more for homeowner’s insurance. Texas (784,000), California (560,000), New York (272,000) and Louisiana (215,000) were other states among the largest number of homeowners paying $4,000 or more a year for property insurance.