Three in 4 people are cutting back to pay for housing

Three in 4 people say they cut back on at least one expense in the past year to pay for housing, according to a survey of 30,758 people in 22 countries released October 5 by Habitat for Humanity International. A third spent less on food, 32% dipped into savings or emergency funds, and 13% put off or skipped medical care.

Nearly half of respondents (48%) said one unexpected problem could threaten their ability to stay in their home, and 56% said the housing system in their country is broken or doesn't work. The same share, 56%, said housing costs make it hard to consider starting a family, rising to 62% among Gen Z and millennials. The survey ran from April 10 to June 30 in countries including the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Kenya, and South Korea.

Renters reported more strain than owners. In the full report, 28% of renters said their housing could hurt their health, compared with 19% of homeowners, and 45% said staying where they live means giving up things they'd hoped for, against 33% of owners. Among parents and guardians, 68% of renters worry housing costs limit their children's opportunities, compared with 54% of homeowners.

"A home should never come at the cost of your health or your future," said Jonathan Reckford, Habitat's CEO. "We cannot accept a future where people have to lower their expectations for what a home should provide."

How the US compares

American respondents landed close to the global numbers on stress and below them on dissatisfaction. In the US, 37% said housing is one of the biggest sources of stress in their lives, compared with 35% across all 22 countries, and 27% said they weren't satisfied with their housing, compared with 35% globally. Among Americans who don't own a home, 42% said they don't expect to own one at any point in their lives. In Canada it was 56%.

The pressure shows up in US housing data, too. A record 22.7 million renter households, 49% of all renters, spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2024, the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies reported in June. Of those, 12.1 million of them spent more than half. That's 2.3 million more cost-burdened renters than in 2019. Over the decade to 2024, the number of homes renting for under $1,000 a month, adjusted for inflation, fell by more than 7 million.

Rent is still climbing, just slowly. The typical US asking rent was $1,948 a month in August 2026, up 2.6% from $1,898 a year earlier, according to RentDataNow data built on the Zillow Observed Rent Index. Keeping that rent at 30% of gross income takes $77,920 a year. The median renter household earned $54,446 in 2024, the latest figure from the US Census Bureau, so the typical rent would take about 43% of its income. Homeowners' median was $100,721.

Asking rent is what someone signing a new lease pays, and tenants who've stayed put for years usually pay less, so the 43% is closest to what a renter faces when they move. The gap shows up city by city, too. In 37 of the 100 largest US cities, the median household, owners included, earns less than it takes to rent the typical home at 30%. For how that share has shifted, see how the income-to-rent ratio has changed since 1990, and for where your own budget should land, what a good rent-to-income ratio looks like.

Sources

• Habitat for Humanity International (October 5, 2026), for the global findings, the Reckford quote, and survey methodology
• Habitat for Humanity, Home at What Cost? full report, for the renter-versus-homeowner and US figures
• Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, The State of the Nation's Housing 2026 (June 17, 2026), for renter cost burdens and the loss of low-rent units
• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates, 2024, table B25119, median household income by tenure
• RentDataNow national rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, August 2026