The Fact
Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reported that 83% of renter households earning under $30,000 were housing-cost burdened in 2024. About 67% were severely burdened, spending more than half their income on rent and utilities.
What This Means
For renters at the bottom of the income distribution, housing burden was the norm rather than the exception in 2024, and severe burden affected roughly two-thirds.
Sources
- Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, America’s Rental Housing 2026, based on U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey data.