Rents continue to rise across the country and more and more households are spending more of their income to pay those rents. According to a report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, first published in The Washington Post, approximately 11 million households are spending more than half of their income on rent and utilities – an increase of 37 percent since 2003.
Generally renters – and owners – are advised to spend roughly one third of their income on housing costs.
The study also found that middle class families earning between $45,000 and $75,000 seem to be struggling the most as they face higher rental costs and are most likely to spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing. Miami and New Orleans currently are the two metro areas with the highest housing expenditures.
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