How much of their income do renters spend on rent in each state?

In the Census Bureau's five-year survey ending in 2024, the typical renter household in Florida spent 35.2% of its income on rent and utilities, the most of any state, followed by Hawaii (33.2%) and Nevada (33.1%). North Dakota was lowest at 25.0%. The U.S. figure was 30.6%; 30% is the share often used to mark renters as cost-burdened.

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Bars are sorted from highest to lowest and start at zero; each one's value is at its end. The dashed line is “United States”, for comparison. On a phone it opens on the top and bottom 10; tap “Show all” for the rest. These are survey estimates: the thin lines and the ± figures show each one's margin of error, and the true value is likely (90% confidence) within that range. Where ranges overlap, the difference may not be real.

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Key facts

Measure: Median rent as a percent of household income. Written from the data below.

  • Florida has the highest figure, 35.2%, followed by Hawaii (33.2%) and Nevada (33.1%).
  • North Dakota has the lowest figure, 25%, followed by South Dakota (25.9%) and Wyoming (27%).
  • United States: 30.6%. Of the 51 compared, 17 are above it and 34 below.

The bigger picture, in plain words: Which states have the cheapest rent?

This chart is one of the 50 in The U.S. in 50 charts, 2026, a yearly report of the key numbers on how the country is doing.

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Source and date

Source
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates
License
Public domain (U.S. government work). This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
Data as of
Published

Citation

Chartly. “How much of their income do renters spend on rent in each state?” Chart. Data: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/acs-5year.html (data as of December 31, 2024). https://chart.ly/charts/rent-share-of-income-by-state (accessed November 4, 2026).

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The data

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The file has the numbers in this table, with the source, license and date. Please credit the source and Chartly. Developers can also get them as JSON (how).

State Median rent as a percent of household income Margin of error (±)
Florida 35.2 ±0.3
Hawaii 33.2 ±0.5
Nevada 33.1 ±0.3
California 32.8 ±0.2
Louisiana 32.8 ±0.5
Colorado 31.4 ±0.2
Connecticut 31.4 ±0.4
Georgia 31.3 ±0.3
Oregon 31.3 ±0.3
New York 31.2 ±0.3
South Carolina 31.1 ±0.4
Massachusetts 30.9 ±0.3
New Jersey 30.9 ±0.3
Texas 30.9 ±0.2
Arizona 30.8 ±0.3
Maryland 30.8 ±0.4
Mississippi 30.7 ±0.5
United States 30.6 ±0.1
Michigan 30.2 ±0.3
New Mexico 30.1 ±0.5
Washington 30 ±0.2
Delaware 29.9 ±0.6
Alabama 29.5 ±0.3
North Carolina 29.5 ±0.2
Tennessee 29.5 ±0.2
Maine 29.4 ±0.5
New Hampshire 29.4 ±0.4
Vermont 29.4 ±0.6
Virginia 29.4 ±0.2
West Virginia 29.4 ±0.7
Minnesota 29.2 ±0.3
Pennsylvania 29.2 ±0.2
Rhode Island 29.2 ±0.5
Illinois 29.1 ±0.2
Indiana 29.1 ±0.3
Utah 28.9 ±0.3
Idaho 28.7 ±0.5
District of Columbia 28.6 ±0.4
Oklahoma 28.4 ±0.3
Ohio 28.3 ±0.2
Kentucky 28.1 ±0.3
Missouri 28.1 ±0.2
Nebraska 27.9 ±0.3
Montana 27.8 ±0.5
Alaska 27.7 ±0.5
Arkansas 27.6 ±0.4
Iowa 27.4 ±0.3
Wisconsin 27.2 ±0.2
Kansas 27.1 ±0.4
Wyoming 27 ±0.7
South Dakota 25.9 ±0.6
North Dakota 25 ±0.6

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