The number of homeowners with cost burdens—defined as paying more than 30% of their incomes on housing costs—rose by 650,000 households from 2022 to 2023 to a total of 20.3 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent housing affordability data.
Cost-burdened homeowners in 2023 represented 23.7% of all homeowner households.
Metro areas such as Milwaukee; Scranton, Pa.; and Oklahoma City, Okla.; all saw their share of homeowners with burdens grow by more than twice the rate of increase nationwide. Each of these areas had homeowner cost burden rates under 20% in 2019.
Among homeowners with income below $30,000 a year, a record-high 55%, or 6 million homeowners, were considered severely cost-burdened in 2023, meaning they pay more than 50% of their income on housing
Read the full report here.
