- Gregg Colburn, Christian Hess, Ryan Allen, and Kyle Crowder
- September 2024
- Focus-on-Poverty-401d
- Link to Focus-on-Poverty-40-1d (PDF)
- Link to Focus-on-Poverty-Classroom-Supplement-40-1 (PDF)
Housing-cost burden among renters has become pervasive since the 1970s. As Gregg Colburn, Christian Hess, Ryan Allen, and Kyle Crowder explain, average rent prices have increased dramatically while working-class wages have remained stagnant. Data from 2019 demonstrates that nearly half of all rental households in the United States endured a spell of housing-cost burden. Addressing the root causes of this long-term problem, the research team says, deserves a policy response also focused on long-term solutions.
Takeaways
- Housing-cost burden occurs when housing costs exceed 30% of a household’s pretax income; severe cost burden is defined as housing costs exceeding 50% of a household’s pretax income.
- Since 1970, housing-cost burden has become pervasive, frequent, and persistent for an increasing number of U.S. households.
- Rental households in this survey saw a nearly 20% increase in inflation-adjusted rent prices, while incomes for the same households fell by more than 10%.
- Increases in the prevalence of housing-cost burden have been driven by increased entries into cost-burden status and longer duration spells.
- Stark racial and socioeconomic disparities emerge on all measures of housing-cost burden among renters.
Categories
Housing, Housing Market, Inequality & Mobility, Neighborhood Effects, Place, Racial/Ethnic Inequality