With home prices near a record high and mortgage rates remaining elevated, renting a place to live around the U.S. is today considered a better alternative to buying. But here’s the catch: Rents are surging, too.
Zillow calculates that renters need at least $80,000 in annual income to comfortably afford the typical apartment rental — up from $60,000 in 2020. And if you want to live in a larger urban area, apartment hunters now need to earn $100,000 or more to live in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, while even modestly sized Riverside, California, requires six figures for people to keep their heads above water, according to the real estate firm.
“Today renters need to make six figures to afford the typical rental in eight major metropolitan areas —twice as many as before the pandemic,” said Kara Ng, senior economist at Zillow. “That means renters have less money in their budgets for essentials like groceries and transportation, or for saving for a down payment.”
The typical guidance is to spend no more than 30% of your income on rent. To put that in perspective, that’s $2,500 a month for someone making $100,000. To stay below the 30% threshold, renters in the eight cities listed by Zillow need to make at least six figures.
“This Zillow data backs up what every renter has been feeling when they’ve been looking for an apartment or trying to renew their lease,” said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing. “Not just in New York City, but across the country, the cost of housing is skyrocketing and they just can’t keep up.”
Here’s a look at where around the country you need to earn six figures to afford the rent — plus cities where you might be able to get away with a lower salary.
Most and least expensive
It’s no surprise that New York City tops Zillow’s list. The Big Apple has in many ways has come to represent the home affordability crisis. According to the Zillow analysis, New York City dwellers need annual income of roughly $135,000 to be able to comfortably afford rent. That’s nearly double the average income for a New York City renter, Fee said.
The average rent in New York City is $2,950, 59% higher than the national average, according to Zillow data. The city is doing away with broker fees starting this summer, which could give renters a bit more wiggle room when it comes to their apartment search.
The second-priciest city is Boston, where renters need to earn $127,000 a year to comfortably afford rent, according to Zillow.
Renters in search of more affordable metro areas can look to cities like Buffalo, New York, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In those cities, renters need to earn less than half of what they would to live in New York and Boston – or around $55,000.
Zillow’s data drives home how much rents have risen in recent years. Since April 2020, monthly rent for a typical U.S. apartment has increased almost 30% to $1,858. At the same time, wage growth over that period has lagged, with median annual income rising 22.5% to roughly $82,000, according to the Census Bureau.
At the center of the problem is the nation’s inadequate housing supply. Even with hundreds of thousands of apartments being constructed each year, it’s not enough to keep up with demand.
“We’ve seen so much pressure since the pandemic and competition for housing,” Fee said. “And the inventory just isn’t there because, again, we’re not building enough as a nation.”
Fee added that to increase the supply of affordable housing and overall inventory, Congress needs to take action by expanding programs like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which subsidizes affordable housing.
“Renters across the country are looking to Washington for relief, and Congress has yet to take any meaningful action to increase affordable housing supply,” she told CBS MoneyWatch.
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