As Housing Costs Outpace Income Growth, the Typical US Renter Is Now Rent-Burdened

For the past several years, average rental prices have outpaced income growth at a steady pace, and today’s wider-than-ever rent-to-income ratio means the typical American renter is, by definition, rent-burdened, according to The New York Times. Roughly 30% of the median U.S. income is required to pay the average rent, a threshold that now puts renter households in a precarious position as rising inflation also limits affordability for everyday goods.

Renters in high-cost cities are at an even greater disadvantage. In New York, the rent-to-income ratio in 2022 was 68.5%, followed by Miami at 41.6%, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at 36.7%, a new report from Moody’s Analytics reveals.

The rent-to-income ratio was calculated by comparing the national median household income, $71,721, with the average monthly rent, $1,794, for 2022. The current 30 percent figure is an increase from 28.5 percent in 2021, and from 25.7 percent in 2020. In 2019, before the pandemic, renters with the median income would be spending 27.2 percent of their income on the average rent.

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