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National Rental Housing Landscape

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Rochester, NY Metro

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Summary


Renter Households
In the Rochester metro, 32.8% of households rented their homes in 2015, compared to 30.5% in 2006. In 2015, 34.0% of households with one or more children, and 22.1% of households that included one or more seniors, rented their homes.

Rents
Real median gross rent* for two bedroom rental units in the Rochester metro decreased by 2.5%, from $880 in 2006 to $860 in 2015. Recently available two bedroom rentals - units that had new occupants within the last 12 months - had a median rent of $930 in 2015, representing a premium of $70.

Affordability
In 2015, 50.9% of renter households in the Rochester metro were rent burdened** and approximately 27.2% of renter households were severely rent burdened.** Households earning the median income in the Rochester metro ($53,500 in 2015) could afford 89.9% of recently available rental units in 2015, down from 91.4% in 2006. Households earning half of the Rochester metro's median income ($26,750 in 2015) could afford 28.5% of recent rentals in 2015, up from 27.1% in 2006.

Rental Stock
In the Rochester metro, 30.6% of renter households lived in single family homes and 69.4% lived in multifamily buildings in 2015, compared to 25.9% and 74.1% in 2006, respectively. There were 150,007 rental housing units in the Rochester metro in 2015, a 7.1% increase from 2006.*** During the same period, the population in the Rochester metro increased by 2.2%. The Rochester metro rental vacancy rate was 6.5% in 2015.

*All dollar amounts are in 2015 dollars.
**Rent burdened household spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent and severely rent burdened households spend more than 50% of pre-tax income on rent.
***This includes both owner-occupied units that converted to rental units and newly constructed rental units.

  2006 2009 2012 2015 2015 Rank

Renter Household Demographics

Population
Total population 981,665 1,006,507 1,001,541 1,003,267 51
Total population living in renter-occupied units 254,115 260,141 291,569 291,338 52
Total population living in owner-occupied units 727,549 746,365 709,972 711,929 52
Tenure
Total households 408,990 416,845 430,201 427,857 50
Total renter-occupied households 124,935 126,213 142,534 140,302 50
Total owner-occupied households 284,055 290,632 287,667 287,555 50
Share of households that were renters 30.5% 30.3% 33.1% 32.8% 46
Share of households that were owners 69.5% 69.7% 66.9% 67.2% 8
Income
Median household income, all households $55,490 $55,240 $51,620 $53,500 36
Median household income, renter households $27,280 $29,830 $27,050 $27,800 51
Share of all households earning <50% of AMI 25.0% 23.5% 25.4% 24.7% 33
Share of all households earning 50%-80% of AMI 16.8% 17.6% 15.8% 16.8% 21
Share of all households earning 80%-120% of AMI 19.0% 17.9% 17.9% 17.3% 33
Share of all households earning >120% of AMI 39.2% 40.9% 41.0% 41.2% 16
Share of households earning <50% of AMI that rent 62.4% 62.0% 63.7% 65.4% 13
Share of households earning 50-80% of AMI that rent 37.6% 41.4% 45.0% 40.8% 47
Share of households earning 80-120% of AMI that rent 23.7% 24.7% 27.9% 30.8% 45
Share of households earning >120% AMI that rent 10.5% 9.7% 11.9% 10.8% 53
Household Type
Share of family households that were renters 64.3% 63.8% 61.3% 62.2% 44
Share of non-family households that were renters 35.7% 36.2% 38.7% 37.8% 10
Share of renter households that are families 42.3% 41.1% 43.9% 43.8% 50
Share of renter households that are nonfamily 57.7% 58.9% 56.1% 56.2% 4
Share of households with children that were renters 27.8% 28.2% 34.0% 34.0% 43
Share of households with seniors that were renters 22.6% 22.6% 22.4% 22.1% 28
Share of renter households earning <50% of AMI 51.1% 48.2% 48.7% 49.3% 3
Share of renter households earning 50%-80% of AMI 20.7% 24.0% 21.4% 20.8% 25
Share of renter households earning 80%-120% of AMI 14.7% 14.6% 15.1% 16.3% 40
Share of renter households earning >120% of AMI 13.5% 13.1% 14.8% 13.6% 52
Employment
Share of renter households with employed members 63.4% 63.4% 63.4% 62.8% 52
Share of renter households with no employed members 36.6% 36.6% 36.6% 37.2% 2
Education
Share of households with high school or less that were renters 43.7% 42.5% 46.4% 46.4% 35
Share of households with some college that were renters 31.4% 33.2% 37.4% 36.2% 47
Share of households with a college degree that were renters 17.4% 17.4% 19.3% 20.1% 53
Share of renter households with high school or less 52.3% 48.4% 45.2% 45.1% 4
Share of renter households with some college 26.0% 29.4% 31.9% 29.5% 29
Share of renter households with a college degree 21.7% 22.3% 22.9% 25.4% 44
Race and Ethnicity
Share of Asian households that were renters 42.3% 26.4% 38.2% 43.7% 10
Share of black households that were renters 63.3% 64.3% 66.0% 68.2% 7
Share of Hispanic households that were renters 59.4% 53.3% 62.8% 55.1% 17
Share of white households that were renters 24.8% 25.1% 26.7% 26.2% 42

Rental Housing Affordability

Rent
Median rent ($2015), all units $790 $810 $770 $800 42
Median rent ($2015), studio and 1 bedroom units $670 $670 $650 $670 39
Median rent ($2015), 2 bedroom units $880 $850 $840 $860 38
Median rent ($2015), 3+ bedroom units $990 $990 $890 $910 48
Median rent, ($2015), all recently available units $820 $820 $830 $790 47
Median rent ($2015), recently available studio and 1 bedroom units $650 $710 $720 $680 44
Median rent ($2015), recently available 2 bedroom units $920 $850 $880 $930 35
Median rent ($2015), recently available 3+ bedroom units $1,030 $1,030 $920 $1,000 47
Premium of recently available units $30 $10 $60 $-10 50
Premium of recently available studio and 1 bedroom units $-20 $40 $70 $10 48
Premium of recently available 2 bedroom units $40 $0 $40 $70 25
Premium of recently available 3+ bedroom units $40 $40 $30 $90 34
Rent Burden
Share of renter households that were rent burdened 49.7% 49.4% 50.5% 50.9% 8
Share of renter households with seniors that were rent burdened 59.4% 55.9% 55.0% 57.5% 10
Share of renter households with children that were rent burdened 59.9% 59.3% 60.6% 55.0% 7
Share of renter households earning <50% of AMI that were rent burdened 80.2% 77.6% 81.2% 79.4% 21
Share of renter households earning between 50% and 80% of AMI that were rent burdened 37.2% 39.3% 41.6% 45.4% 30
Share of renter households earning between 80% and 120% of AMI that were rent burdened 5.9% 14.2% 10.3% 11.2% 40
Share of renter households earning >120% of AMI that were rent burdened 1.5% 3.3% 3.2% 3.4% 14
Share of renter households that were severely rent burdened 27.9% 25.8% 28.0% 27.2% 5
Share of renter households with seniors that were severely rent burdened 29.0% 23.1% 22.8% 28.7% 26
Share of renter households with children that were severely rent burdened 36.2% 34.6% 33.6% 29.9% 8
Share of renter households earning <50% of AMI that were severely rent burdened 51.9% 50.9% 54.3% 51.5% 23
Share of renter households earning between 50% and 80% of AMI that were severely rent burdened 6.0% 3.2% 6.5% 8.1% 20
Share of renter households earning between 80% and 120% of AMI that were severely rent burdened 0.9% 2.8% 0.8% 1.0% 31
Share of renter households earning >120% of AMI that were severely rent burdened 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0
Rental Unit Availability
Share of recently available rental units affordable for households earning 50% of AMI 27.1% 28.1% 23.5% 28.5% 10
Share of recently available rental units affordable for households earning 80% of AMI 81.1% 83.7% 77.4% 76.7% 8
Share of recently available rental units affordable for households earning 100% AMI 91.4% 93.2% 90.8% 89.9% 7
Share of recently available rental units affordable for households earning 120% of AMI 96.9% 95.1% 93.9% 93.7% 13

Rental Housing Stock

Housing units
Number of occupied housing units 408,990 416,845 430,201 427,857 50
Number of owner-occupied housing units 284,055 290,632 287,667 287,555 50
Number of renter-occupied housing units 124,935 126,213 142,534 140,302 50
Number of vacant units for rent 15,164 11,691 6,634 9,705 49
Rental vacancy rate 10.8% 8.5% 4.4% 6.5% 18
Building Type
Share of rental units that are single-family homes 25.9% 27.3% 25.6% 30.6% 41
Share of rental units that are in multi-family buildings 74.1% 72.7% 74.4% 69.4% 13
Bedroom Type
Share of rental units that are studios or 1 bedrooms 36.8% 36.5% 36.1% 36.5% 7
Share of rental units that are 2 bedroom units 36.7% 38.6% 40.7% 36.8% 40
Share of rental units that are 3+ bedroom units 26.6% 24.9% 23.3% 26.7% 42