Affordable Rental Units

Fewer recently available rental units were affordable to households at all income levels in 2015 than in the previous decade, and low-income households have the least affordable options.

Across the 53 metros, households earning the median income of $61,000 in 2015 could afford 75 percent of the recently available rental units, down from 82 percent in 2006. The share of units affordable to a household earning the metro median income fell in over two thirds of the metros between 2006 and 2015. Low-income households had far fewer options: households making half of the median income across all metros ($30,500 in 2015) could only afford 17 percent of recently available units in 2015, down from 21.5 percent in 2006.