How much of their pay do renters actually spend on rent? It depends almost entirely on income

The usual advice is to spend no more than 30% of your gross income on rent. Whether renters manage it comes down mostly to how much they earn. Among the 46.1 million US renter households in 2024, the median household spent 30.9% of its income on rent and utilities, according to the US Census Bureau. That middle figure hides a very wide spread.

Below $35,000 a year, the 30% rule barely applies. More than 85% of renter households in each of those groups spend 30% or more of their income on housing, and in the lowest group more than 9 in 10 spend half or more. For a household earning $25,000, 30% of income is $625 a month, far below what most apartments cost.

The middle is where it splits. Renters earning $50,000 to $74,999, the largest single group at 8.4 million households, are almost exactly divided: 50.1% spend 30% or more and the rest spend less. Above $100,000, the rule is easy. Only 9.1% spend 30% or more, and 61.6% spend less than 20%.

The count keeps rising. Nationally, 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, including 12.1 million who spent more than half, and the number of cost-burdened renters has grown by 2.3 million since 2019.

Today's asking rents set the bar even higher for anyone moving. The typical US rent was $1,932 a month in September 2026, according to RentDataNow data built on the Zillow Observed Rent Index. Keeping that at 30% of gross income takes about $77,280 a year, more than any household earning under $75,000 makes.

Some renters with high incomes can comfortably spend less, and many with low incomes have no way to spend that little. For other ways to set a budget, see the rent rule of thumb, and when to bend it, and to check a specific number, what income you need for your rent.

Sources

• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates, 2024, table B25074 (household income by gross rent as a percentage of household income) and table B25071 (median gross rent as a percentage of household income); shares exclude households for which the ratio isn't computed

• Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, State of the Nation's Housing 2026 (June 17, 2026)

• RentDataNow national rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, September 2026