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With the single-family home market seeing rising costs, affordability issues are now affecting the rental market in New England.
According to a new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 26.5 percent of Massachusetts renters are severely cost-burdened. This is up from 18.8 percent in 2001. “Severely cost-burdened” is defined as a household spending more than half of its income on housing.
While rental affordability has worsened, incomes have not risen at a similar rate. The median income in Massachusetts has risen by 10 percent, while the median rent has increased by 36 percent.
In Connecticut, the decline in affordability is even more heightened. Cost-burdened has increased by 5.3 percent, the fourth largest increase in the nation.
The number of severely cost-burdened households in Connecticut has increased from 18.6 percent in 2001 to 28.3 percent in 2024. Additionally, the median income has dropped by 9 percent, while the median rent has increased by 21 percent.
“For millions of renters, especially those with lower and moderate incomes, housing is deeply unaffordable,” Joint Center for Housing Studies Managing Director Chris Herbert said in a statement. “Years of rent increases and the loss of lower-cost units have left many households with no cushion and very few options.”
As of 2024, 12.1 million households are severely cost-burdened across the United States. Between 2001 and 2024, the median rent increased 30 percent after adjusting for inflation, while the median renter household income increased just 9 percent in the United States.
Affordability challenges have worsened across the board, partially because full-time employment does not necessarily provide the income required to afford rent in today’s market, according to the report. The share of fully employed renters with cost burdens was 36 percent in 2024, up from 25 percent in 2001. Cost burdens were especially high for full-time workers in food preparation (53 percent) and personal/care services (52 percent).
