Meet the Renters of 2020: Wealthy, Educated, and Old

A rich couple in their forties with two kids are not generally the people who first come to mind when you think of renters, but they are increasingly the demographic willing to spend big bucks to rent long term, especially in more upscale apartments that are heavy on the amenities. Wealthier renters now account for a whopping three-fourths of growth in the rental market. These renters tend to be older with high-incomes and a college education, and some of them even have kids, which pokes a hole in the gold standard of a suburban house with a lawn being the ideal family home. But the growing population of rich renters is hiking up prices: It’s as if the apartment lifestyle itself is getting gentrified. 

It's time to put aside all of your assumptions about renters! The fastest-growing group of tenants today isn't the stereotypical broke 20-somethings scrounging for change between the couch cushions.

Instead, renters are becoming wealthier, both younger and older—and more likely to have children than in previous years, according to a recent report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

"We've seen this enormous growth in high-income households [who are renters]," says Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a research associate at the center and the lead author of the biennial report. A high-income household is defined as bringing in at least $75,000 a year. "[They] have college educations."

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