March Rent Report: 65% of U.S. Cities Fail the Affordability Test.

If you follow the rule of thumb that households should spend no more than 30% of their gross income on rent, then most U.S. cities are unaffordable. A monthly NerdWallet rent-to-income ratio analysis of 225 cities in the U.S. finds that, based on the most recent data, 65% of rents on the market are equal to or above the recommended 30% ratio in February. In January, the ratio was 64%. That means market rents are moderately to severely burdensome for residents in 57% of U.S. cities measured. Market rent comes from data on the real estate website Zillow, based on February data, and median income used for this analysis is from 2021 U.S. Census Bureau data.

The data doesn’t differentiate between incomes for residents who own rather than rent in those cities. By federal standards, spending 30% to 49% of income on rent means a household is “moderately rent burdened,” and spending 50% or more means a household is “severely rent burdened,” according to the NYU Furman Center, which conducts research about housing and urban policy. From January to February, the price of advertised rents increased by 0.3%, according to Zillow’s rental report for February 2023. Typical asking rents increased 6.3% compared with the same time last year.

Source: 69WFMZ