Oregon is among the top dozen states in the U.S. with the highest percentage of cost-burdened renters, according to a new Harvard University Study highlighted in a KION 6 News article by Michaela Bourgeois on Jan. 29.
The study considers renters cost-burdened when paying more than 30% on rent and utilities. In the U.S., a third of renters are cost-burdened, and in Oregon around 50-57% are cost-burdened, along with California, New York, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Louisiana, and Hawaii.
The study found a record-high 22.4 million renter households were cost-burdened in the U.S. and 12.1 million of those paid over half of their income for housing. The study also found the income bracket from $30k to $74,999/year had their cost-burden increase the most from 2019; both income brackets higher (2.2%) and lower (1.5%) also had their cost-burden increase from 2019. Overall, there was an increase of 3.2% from 2019, increasing cost-burdened renters to 50%.