Despite national rent growth stalling and vacancy rates ticking upward over the last year, a record number of U.S. renters are now burdened by housing costs.
Years of compounding rent hikes and waning wage growth have created a landscape where half of all tenants struggle to make ends meet, according to a new report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS),
The JCHS report reveals that an unprecedented 22.7 million renter households — representing 49% of all renters — spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2024. More alarmingly, 12.1 million of these households are severely cost burdened, meaning they spend more than half their income on housing.
The Harvard report also found that the affordability pinch is rapidly climbing up the income ladder.
“The affordability crisis is no longer confined to the lowest-income households,” commented Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at the JCHS, in a press release announcing the report’s findings.
“We’re now seeing growing cost burdens among renters earning $45,000 to $75,000 and even among higher-income households,” she continued. “At the same time, lower-income households are facing record levels of strain, with very little left over each month after paying for housing.”
For instance, the report found that in 2024, households earning less than $30,000 typically had $210 left each month after paying rent and utilities — a 60% decrease from 2001 levels.
Meanwhile, even higher-income households have seen a reduction or stagnation in their income once housing costs are subtracted, with households earning between $30,000 and $74,999 experiencing a 10% drop in this figure since 2001, while higher earning households have plateaued, with income after housing remaining flat from 25 years ago.
Curiously, this widespread financial strain comes at a time when the rental market is technically cooling. In the fourth quarter of 2025, asking rents for professionally managed apartments fell by 0.6% on the year. Vacancy rates also rose to 5.2% in the fourth quarter, driven by slowing household demand and a surge of newly completed apartments hitting the market.
However, these apparently positive indicators do not tell the whole story.
“Headline numbers showing flat or falling rents can be misleading,” noted Chris Herbert, managing director of JCHS, in commentary accompanying the report. “For millions of renters, especially those with lower and moderate incomes, housing is deeply unaffordable. Years of rent increase and the loss of lower-cost units have left many households with no cushion and very few options.”
The disappearance of affordable supply is a major driver of this squeeze: The number of units renting for less than $1,400 fell by 9.3 million between 2014 and 2024. Furthermore, relief from new supply may soon abate.
While completions remained high in 2025 compared to pre-pandemic levels due to past projects finishing, the pipeline of multifamily units under construction plummeted from a record 996,000 in 2023 down to 686,000 in 2025. Developers are pulling back largely because the prices of material inputs for residential construction soared 42% since January 2020, significantly increasing development costs.
Still, Herbert sees a path forward.
“Despite serious headwinds, there is a growing recognition across the political spectrum that safe, stable, affordable housing is fundamental to families’ well-being and to a strong economy,” he said. “If we can build on emerging bipartisan momentum and learn from state and local innovations, we have an opportunity to make real progress on the nation’s rental housing challenges.”
