The median U.S. rental household is now rent-burdened, according to economic research firm Moody’s Analytics.
The country’s average monthly rent, $1,794, is 30% of its median monthly income, $5,977, according to Moody’s data from the fourth quarter of 2022. That’s the first time that has been the case, the company said in a Jan. 19 post.
At the start of the century, the ratio was under 24%. Since then, it has been increasing more or less steadily, Moody’s data shows. It dipped at the start of the pandemic, then spiked sharply to its new current high.
There is considerable geographic variation, depending on local variations in the job and housing markets. In New York City, the ratio is an eye-popping 68.5%, the highest in the country, Moody’s said.
In Lancaster County, nearly half of renters, 48% are rent-burdened, according to the Racial Equity Profile that was released earlier this month by a consortium of nonprofits. The group was led by YWCA Lancaster and includes United Way of Lancaster County.
A majority of Black and Latino households rent, and a majority of those households are rent-burdened, the profile found.
The profile’s data is from 2019. The situation today is likely worse, given the post-pandemic surge in rent burdens documented by Moody’s.
Local advocates say the county needs nearly 20,000 additional housing units to meet the needs of its lower-incoe population.
This week, LNP profiled a 78-year-old woman, Edna Amaro, who is being forced out of her apartment of 45 years. She has been unable to find anywhere she can afford on her $1,150 monthly income and has spent months fruitlessly contacting referral services and putting her name on waitlists.
“This town is dried up,” she told the newspaper.
