Renters face varying degrees of financial strain across U.S

When it comes time to pay the rent, how much of your paycheck would you be willing to fork over?

Nationwide, the typical renter spent 31% of their total income on rent last year, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau. It means that roughly half of renters in the country are spending more than 30% of their income on rent, the threshold of what is typically considered affordable.

The housing burden for renters, which was basically unchanged from 2022, also remained higher than for homeowners, who typically spent 21.1% of their income on housing if they had a mortgage and just 11.5% if they had no mortgage.

“Housing costs rose between 2022 and 2023 for both homeowners and renters. The median cost of housing for renters rose from $1,354 to $1,406 (after adjusting for inflation),” said Molly Ross, a survey statistician with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Due to local variations in incomes and rents, rent burden varies dramatically from city to city, according to the Realtor.com analysis of data from the 2023 American Community Survey.

Leading the nation is Key West, FL, where the median rent burden is a whopping 42.2%. The southernmost city in the contiguous U.S., Key West is a popular vacation destination also famous as the former home of author Ernest Hemingway.

Key West is followed by two other popular vacation spots: Clearlake, CA, where the typical rent burden is 41.8%, and Laconia, NH, where it clocks in at 40.9%. Both cities are relatively small with populations under 20,000 and located on lake shores that make them popular spots for summer vacations and second homes.

Florida dominates among the ten most rent-burdened cities, accounting for half of the list. In addition to Key West, Port St. Lucie, Gainesville, Sebring, and Miami all make the top ten with median rent burdens exceeding 38% in each town.

Miami has a metro population of more than six million and is notable as the only major city to rank in the top ten for highest rent burden. Although big cities such as San Francisco and New York City are infamous for high housing costs, high median incomes of renters in those areas mean that their rent burdens fall fairly close to the national average.

The remaining cities in the top ten for rent burden are all relatively small including Corvallis OR Danville IL and Monroe LA

At the other end of the spectrum Wooster OH has lowest rent burden any US statistical area at 20 point seven percent The city about twenty seven thousand located roughly fifty miles southwest Cleveland

Other cities Midwest make up majority ten least rent-burdened cities country In Wisconsin Marinette Sheboygan Wausau Beaver Dam all make list with burdens below twenty four percent

Warsaw IN also makes cut Midwest along Jefferson City MO

In West Gallup NM Heber UT have distinction low burdens South Northeast represented top ten one entry each Albemarle NC Somerset PA

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