Housing Burden in New York City Housing is typically the single largest expense for families—especially in New York City where housing costs peak at some of the highest in the country. When costs exceed income, families experience hardships, often being forced to choose between which basic needs to meet, and which to do without, with near- and long-term consequences. This is particularly problematic with housing, as it is a rigid cost—one must pay all of the rent, every month, or risk eviction. With other costs, one can choose to buy or skip less expensive items, although those choices may result in consequences such as hunger or medical complications. Thus, a housing cost burden leads to stark choices: doubling up, inadequate housing, homelessness, or foregoing other basic necessities (e.g. nutritious food, quality child care, or health care). As demonstrated in Figure AC, housing represents a critical issue for those living below the True Cost of Living. Housing burden is traditionally defined as: Affordable housing = No more than 30% of a household’s gross income is spent on rent and utilities. Housing-cost burdened = Over 30%, but less than 50%, of household income goes towards housing costs. Severely housing-cost burdened = Over 50% of household income goes towards housing costs.
In New York City, 50% of all households are considered housing burdened (with more than 30% of household income going towards rent). When examining by households with incomes below the TCL, the situation becomes more dire: more than one half (56%) of New York City households with incomes below the TCL are paying more than 50% of their earnings towards housing and another 23% are paying more than 30% but less than 50% of their income towards housing. Together, that means, almost 80% of households below the True Cost of Living are considered housing cost burdened; that is, four out of every five households in New York City struggles to afford rent under this traditional definition.
Figure AC. Representation of Total Households and Households Below the True Cost of Living by Housing Burden and by Renting Versus Owning
*The label “housing burdened” is assigned to households when more than 30% of their income goes to the cost of housing. Households are considered “severely housing burdened” if housing costs more than 50% of their income. Percentages are rounded and therefore do not always add up to 100%. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2021 ACS 1-Year Public Use Microdata Sample.
Struggling to Make Ends Meet in New York City
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