You need a $67K salary to afford rent in the Houston area
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You have to earn more than $67,000 per year to afford the typical monthly rent in the Greater Houston area, according to a new report.
Why it matters: That's about 23.4% higher than what a Houston-area household would have needed to earn five years ago, per the analysis from Zillow.
- It's also about $13,000 less than the income needed to afford the typical rent nationwide, Zillow found.
What they did: Zillow assumed that rent should take up no more than 30% of household income — a common standard for calculating affordability.
Zoom in: By that measure, affording the typical Houston area-rent — which came in at $1,693 in April — requires an annual income of $67,731.
Yes, but: The median household income in the Houston region was $79,463 in 2023 — well above what is needed to afford the typical monthly rent, per Zillow's analysis.
- That said, a single person may be in for more of a struggle. Census data pegged the per capita income in Houston at $41,142 in 2023.