New Research Reveals Increasing Burden of High Housing Costs

The cost burden of housing in the U.S. continues to rise, according to a new research brief from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University that looks at housing affordability for homeowners. Analysing data from the Joint Center's most recent American Community Survey reveals that when it comes to housing, the greatest burdens are being shouldered by those with the lowest incomes, with a disproportionate share of the recent growth in homeowner cost burdens being among older adults. In fact, older homeowners account for nearly half of the increase in cost burdens since 2019. Other population segments disproportionately affected are Black and Hispanic homeowners and single-person and single-parent households.

Cost burdened households are defined as those that are spending more than 30% of their incomes on housing costs. In 2023, the number of cost-burdened households increased by 650,000 households to a total of 20.3 million, which represents 23.7% of all homeowner households.  

Cost burden rates have been growing across the country, but many of the most significant increases have been in traditionally more affordable areas. Metros such as Milwaukee, Scranton, and Oklahoma City, each of which had homeowner cost burden rates under 20 percent in 2019, all saw their share of homeowners with burdens grow by more than twice the rate of increase nationwide. Read more