Renter cost burden, in this case, refers to renters that are paying more than 30% of their income on rent, rendering them “burdened” by the cost of housing. As rent increases and income remains unchanged, or as affordable housing becomes less available, people are over-extending themselves in order to afford housing. This contributes to the housing crisis and also to people being unable to access opportunity in the same way that affluent, or low-vulnerability, communities can.
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Renter Cost Burden Map
Percent of renters paying more than 30% of income on housing
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B25070; U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division 2020 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
Insights & Analysis
- Pierce and Snohomish Counties have the highest percentage of cost burdened households (52%), followed by Kitsap (51%) and King (46%).
- In almost half (45%) of the region’s census tracts, cost burdened households make up more than half of the renters.
- Half of these majority cost burdened renter household tracts are in King County (49%), followed by Pierce (24%), Snohomish (20%), and Kitsap (7%), which roughly reflect the distribution of tracts across the region (King 54%, Pierce 21%, Snohomish 19%, and Kitsap 6%) and point to this being a region-wide problem.
- The median population density of the tracts where more than half of the renter households are cost burdened is higher (7 people/acre) than that of the tracts where fewer than half of households are rent-burdened (6 people/acre).
Renter Cost Burden Now
Source(s): U.S. Census Bureau, 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample
Insights & Analysis
- People of color are more likely to be rent cost burdened than their white non-Hispanic counterparts, with the largest percentage point gap in Snohomish County (7%), followed by Pierce (3%), King (2%), and Kitsap (1%).
- Renter households with lower income in the region are 2.4 times more likely to be cost burdened than other renter households.
- Regionally, 57% of people with disabilities are rent cost burdened, 13% higher than those without disabilities.
- Renter households with limited English proficiency are most cost burdened in Snohomish County (65%) and least in Kitsap and Pierce counties (53%).
- Snohomish is the only county where the share of renter households with youth (18 years or younger) that are cost burdened (50%) is lower than the share for those without (52%).
Renter Cost Burden 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, a little less than half of renters of color are rent cost burdened in 2022 (48%), a decrease of three percentage points from 2012 (51%).
- The regional share of rent cost burdened households with lower income has remained unchanged between 2012 and 2022, while the share of rent cost burdened households with higher income has increased by 6 percentage points during the same period.
- The gap in the regional share of renter cost burden between households with limited English proficiency and households proficient in English narrowed by one percentage point between 2012 (12 percentage points) and 2022 (11 percentage points).
- Kitsap is the only county where the difference between renter households with youth and those without has remained constant between 2012 and 2022, while the difference has decreased in Snohomish (6 percentage points), King (4 percentage points), and Pierce (3 percentage points).
- The share of cost burdened renter households with older adults has decreased in Pierce County (4 percentage points) and King County (3 percentage points) between 2012 and 2022, while it has increased in Kitsap (1 percentage point) and Snohomish (3 percentage points).