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.
Advertisement
Related Stories
Affordability
How Much Income Do First-Time Buyers Need to Afford the Average Home?
The median-priced home is unaffordable in 44 of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas
Affordability
What Is the Relationship Between Urban vs. Suburban Development and Affordability?
A new paper from Harvard's Joint Center looks at whether expanding the supply of suburban housing could, in turn, help make dense urban areas more affordable
Off-Site Construction
New Study Examines Barriers and Solutions in Manufactured Housing
The study from Harvard's Joint Center looks at the challenges faced by developers using manufactured housing and how they're overcoming those barriers