Housing cost burden measures the percentage of households paying more than 30% of their income towards housing. Severely cost burdened households pay more than 50% of their income towards housing. For renters, costs include any utilities that the renter must pay. For owners, costs are for the mortgage; real estate taxes; fire, hazard, and flood insurance payments; and mortgage insurance premiums. Generally, households should keep housing costs to under 30% of their income to budget for other necessities and build wealth. Increases in the percentage of cost burdened households can negatively impact housing conditions and worsen inequities.
The cost burden of shelter was little changed for Southeast Michigan's households between 2023 and 2024. About 49% of renters pay more than 30% of their income towards housing in 2024, close to the same rate in 2023. The rate of severely burdened renter households increased from 26.1% in 2023 to 26.7% in 2024. The owner burden rate declined from 21.6% in 2023 to 21.2% in 2024; while the severely burdened owner rate remained unchanged at 9.4%. Since 2019, the housing cost burden has increased for both renters and owners. The percentage of renters paying at least 30% of their income towards housing increased by 2.9 percentage points (from 46.2% in 2019); while the percentage of owners paying at least 30% of their income towards housing increased by 2.1 percentage points (from 19.1% in 2019).
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year Estimate (year 2020 data is not available)[Table code: B25070 (renter) and B25091 (owner)]