Nearly 25% of Bay Area renters spend more than half their paycheck on rent
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It's tough out there to be a renter, with nearly a quarter of them in the Bay Area spending more than half their household income on housing last year, according to recent federal data.
Why it matters: An excessive rent burden can make it harder to afford other basic needs, like groceries and transportation — or to save for a down payment on a home.
Context: Households are considered cost-burdened when they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
- Those spending more than 50% of their income on housing costs are considered "severely" cost-burdened.
By the numbers: Of the nearly 788,500 renters in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area, 24.5% of them spent more than half of their household income on rent last year.
- Nationwide, just over a quarter (25.6%) of U.S. renters are in the same boat, according to the 2023 American Community Survey.
Zoom in: The Bay Area has a notoriously rough housing market, where affordability is one of the biggest issues facing residents.
- As California voters weigh whether to pass Proposition 33, which would allow cities to set their own rent control laws without state-implemented limits, San Francisco officials are looking to expand the city's.
Between the lines: Geography is only part of the equation here — race plays a role, too.
- Nationwide, 30.6% of Black renters are spending more than half their income on rent, compared to 23.4% of white renters.
Stunning stat: The real median gross cost of renting — that's rent plus utility/energy costs — grew faster annually (+3.8%) than real median home values (+1.8%) last year for the first time in a decade, the Census Bureau points out.