When people are living in homes that are too small for their household needs and size, this can indicate that more appropriate housing options are inaccessible. This could be due to a range of factors such as cost and location. For this measure, overcrowding is calculated by dividing the number of people in a household by the number of rooms in their home. Aligned with the Census Bureau, renter overcrowding is defined as more than one person per room in a rented home.
Although those who own their home can experience overcrowding, the Equity Tracker is focusing on the region's renter households because they experience overcrowding at much higher rates.
Go to: Renter Overcrowding Map | Renter Overcrowding Now | Renter Overcrowding Trend
Renter Overcrowding Map
Percent of households with more than 1 person per room
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B25014; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Note: Data are visualized at a county level due to small sample sizes and concerns about data reliability at the census tract level.
Insights & Analysis
- King and Snohomish counties have the highest rate of overcrowding among renters (6.8%), followed by Pierce (5.3%), and Kitsap (3.5%).
- The higher rate of overcrowding for renters in King and Snohomish counties is likely related to having lower access to affordable rent.
- Compared to King and Snohomish counties, Kitsap County’s overcrowding rate among renters is about half as high, while Pierce is almost four-fifths as high.
Renter Overcrowding Now
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample
Insights & Analysis
- A greater share of renters of color experience overcrowding compared to white non-Hispanic renters. The difference is highest in King County (eight percentage points), followed by Snohomish County (seven percentage points) while Kitsap and Pierce counties have much smaller differences (two and three percentage points, respectively).
- The share of the region’s renter households with lower income experiencing overcrowding is 10%, twice as high as other renter households - King County has the highest rate of overcrowding among renter households with lower income (11%), followed by Snohomish (10%), Pierce (9%), and Kitsap (5%).
- The regional share of renter households with limited English proficiency experiencing overcrowding is 15%, over two and a half times higher than renter households proficient in English (6%).
- Renter households with limited English proficiency have the highest rates of overcrowding across almost all of demographic groups, regardless of county, with the exception of renter households with youth in King, Kitsap, or Snohomish counties.
Renter Overcrowding Trend
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2008-2012, 2013-2017, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample
Insights & Analysis
- Regionally, the share of overcrowded renter households of color remained the same (10%) between 2012 and 2022, with a slight increase in 2017, while the overcrowding for white, non-Hispanic renter households increased from 2% to 4%.
- Renters of color have consistently experienced higher rates of overcrowding compared to white non-Hispanic renter households; however, between 2012 and 2022, the differences between these two groups decreased across most of the region: decreasing in Kitsap (-60%), Pierce (-50%), and King (-20%) counties while staying the same in Snohomish County.
- Overcrowding among renter households with lower income in the region slightly increased between 2012 and 2022 (going from 9% to 10%).
- Between 2012 and 2022, the share of overcrowded renter households with lower income increased 50% in Pierce County (going from 6% to 9%) and 11% in Snohomish County (going from 9% to 10%), while the shares remained the same in King and Kitsap counties (11% and 5%, respectively).
- Overcrowding experienced by renters with a disability stayed the same in King County (6%) between 2012 to 2022, while it increased two percentage points in Kitsap County (going from 3% to 5%), increased one percentage point in Pierce County (going from 5% to 6%), and increased two percentage points in Snohomish County (going from 6% to 8%).
- A higher share of renter households with limited English proficiency live in overcrowded housing than those proficient in English. Between 2012 and 2022, the difference between the two groups decreased in King (-25%) and Snohomish (-9%) counties and increased in Pierce (+29%) and Kitsap (+100%) counties.
- The share of overcrowding for renter households with youth increased between 2012 and 2022 the most in Snohomish County (five percentage points), followed by an increase of two percentage points in King, Kitsap, and Pierce counties.