The High Cost of Renting

If you rent your home, you might be paying a lot more than you used to. A new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University calculates that 10.9 million renters spent more than 50 percent of their income on housing in 2018. That equates to one in four renters.

This has become more of an issue in recent years. A renter is defined as cost-burdened if they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. According to the study, there were 6 million more cost-burdened renters in 2018 than in 2001.

And it's not just lower-income folks who are feeling the pinch. In recent years, there’s been a surge in demand for rental units among higher-income Americans. Households with incomes of at least $75,000 accounted for more than three-quarters of the growth in renters (3.2 million) from 2010 to 2018.