Examining the Proportion of Rent Affordability
In a recent analysis, Moody's, a U.S.-based credit ratings company, has developed an interactive data visualization to track rent prices in the United States. The visualization reveals that low-income households are rent burdened in 86 percent of the analyzed rental markets in the country.
The visualization categorizes rental markets based on rent burdens. Those with rent burdens below the 30 percent threshold are represented as blue, while rental markets with high rent burdens are represented as shades of red, orange, or yellow.
The rent burden is defined in the visualization as spending more than 30 percent of household income on rent for an average apartment. However, the visualization does not provide information on the average rent prices in the analyzed rental markets or specify the exact number of rental markets analyzed in the United States.
The data reveals that the issue of rent burdens is widespread across many large metropolitan areas and states. The top rental markets in the United States where low-income households are most rent burdened—meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent—are concentrated mostly in Florida and Western states, though this issue is not limited to these regions.
According to the latest data and analysis, in 2023, 83% of renters earning under $30,000 were cost burdened, spending over 30% of their income on rent and utilities, with two-thirds of these severely burdened, paying more than 50% of income on housing. Overall, 22.6 million renter households—about half of all renters in the U.S.—were cost burdened in 2023, marking a record high and a three-year trend of increased housing cost burdens.
The crisis is most acute in Florida and Western states, where recent rent increases have been especially pronounced. Even metro areas with relatively lower burden rates still have at least 39% of renters facing burdensome housing costs. Among cities with significant rent increases and cost burdens, Cleveland, Chicago, Providence, Columbus, and Indianapolis have seen some of the fastest rent growth, exacerbating affordability challenges for low-income renters.
The prevalence of cost burden has increased in 43 states and 89 of the 100 largest metro areas since 2019. In more than half of large metropolitan areas, over half of renter households are burdened by housing costs. The rising cost burden is driven by a shrinking stock of affordable units and increasing rents, especially for units renting over $2,000 per month, which tripled from 3.6 million to 9.1 million units between 2013 and 2023.
In conclusion, the data visualization created by Moody's shows that Florida and Western states are the hardest-hit regions for low-income renters burdened by housing costs, but the issue is widespread across many large metropolitan rental markets nationwide. This housing affordability crisis affects the majority of low-income renters and has grown steadily worse in recent years. However, the visualization does not offer solutions or recommendations for addressing the issue of rent burdens in the United States.
The data visualization created by Moody's categorizes rental markets based on rent burdens, representing those with low burdens in blue and high burdens in shades of red, orange, or yellow. In personal-finance, a rent burden is defined as spending more than 30 percent of household income on rent for an average apartment. The issue of high rent burdens, particularly affecting low-income households, is prevalent not only in Florida and Western states but also in many large metropolitan areas across the United States.
