Rent Burden · United States · Updated May 2026

States with the highest renter cost burden

Renter cost burden measures the share of renters spending more than 30% of gross income on housing — the threshold HUD uses to define "cost-burdened." When more than half of renters in a state are cost-burdened, it signals a structural housing affordability crisis, not individual financial difficulty.

The national median renter cost burden across all 50 states is 44.8%. Florida has the highest burden at 56.3%, where nearly half of renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Data source: ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2024.

All 50 States — Ranked by Renter Cost Burden

All states ranked by renter cost burden

State Burden Median Rent

1 Florida 56.3% $1,669/mo 2 Nevada 52.8% $1,597/mo 3 California 52.5% $2,036/mo 4 Hawaii 52.1% $1,971/mo 5 Colorado 50.4% $1,761/mo 6 Oregon 49.5% $1,525/mo 7 Connecticut 49.3% $1,488/mo 8 New York 49.2% $1,621/mo 9 New Jersey 49.1% $1,720/mo 10 Massachusetts 48.9% $1,762/mo 11 Maryland 48.7% $1,705/mo 12 Texas 48.5% $1,403/mo 13 Georgia 48.4% $1,393/mo 14 Arizona 48.0% $1,543/mo 15 Louisiana 47.7% $1,064/mo 16 Washington 47.5% $1,760/mo 17 Delaware 46.6% $1,401/mo 18 Michigan 46.4% $1,129/mo 19 South Carolina 46.3% $1,180/mo 20 New Hampshire 45.7% $1,491/mo 21 Rhode Island 45.4% $1,342/mo 22 Minnesota 45.3% $1,280/mo 23 Virginia 45.3% $1,579/mo 24 Vermont 45.2% $1,234/mo 25 New Mexico 45.0% $1,067/mo 26 Utah 44.8% $1,496/mo 27 North Carolina 44.7% $1,228/mo 28 Pennsylvania 44.6% $1,209/mo 29 Illinois 44.5% $1,274/mo 30 Indiana 44.4% $1,062/mo 31 District of Columbia 44.3% $1,954/mo 32 Tennessee 44.3% $1,189/mo 33 Maine 44.1% $1,139/mo 34 Mississippi 43.6% $954/mo 35 Idaho 43.4% $1,238/mo 36 Alabama 42.5% $1,007/mo 37 Ohio 42.4% $1,034/mo 38 Missouri 42.0% $1,033/mo 39 Nebraska 41.9% $1,072/mo 40 Oklahoma 41.7% $1,014/mo 41 Wisconsin 41.1% $1,087/mo 42 Iowa 40.5% $972/mo 43 Kansas 40.4% $1,060/mo 44 Kentucky 40.4% $967/mo 45 Montana 40.4% $1,081/mo 46 West Virginia 40.4% $872/mo 47 Alaska 40.4% $1,419/mo 48 Arkansas 39.4% $947/mo 49 Wyoming 38.8% $992/mo 50 South Dakota 36.4% $946/mo 51 North Dakota 36.3% $954/mo

Regional patterns in rent burden

Coastal and Sun Belt states dominate the top of the rent burden rankings. Major coastal states including California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Florida average 51.4% renter cost burden — significantly above the national median. High rent-to-income ratios in these markets reflect both elevated rents and income inequality, where high earners raise average income figures while lower-income renters bear a disproportionate share of housing costs.

Midwestern states including Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas show the lowest burden rates, averaging 40.3%. In these markets, median rents remain low relative to median incomes, and the share of cost-burdened renters reflects a more balanced housing supply.

Note that low cost burden at the state level can mask severe county-level stress. In states with large cities — Texas, Georgia, Illinois — urban counties often have burden rates well above the state average even when the state overall ranks in the middle tier.

How renter cost burden is measured

The renter cost burden percentage is calculated from the ACS variable B25070 (gross rent as a percentage of household income). It measures the share of renter-occupied units where gross rent — including utilities — exceeds 30% of gross household income. HUD defines two thresholds: cost-burdened (30–49%) and severely cost-burdened (50%+).

The 30% threshold was codified in the 1981 US Housing Act and has been the federal standard ever since. Critics argue the threshold fails to account for household size, location, or non-housing costs of living — a single person in San Francisco paying 35% of income on rent faces a very different situation than a family of four paying the same share in Iowa.

Data in these rankings comes from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2020–2024 pooled), covering all 50 states and DC. State figures are direct ACS estimates, not county-aggregated averages. Puerto Rico is excluded from rankings.

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