How income-based apartments work, and what it takes to get one in Charlotte, Greenville, or Minneapolis

"Income-based apartment" covers a few different programs, and they work differently. Some cap your rent at about 30% of what you earn. Others just cap the rent on the unit, whatever your income. Knowing which is which matters, because the waits and the savings aren't the same.

The deepest help comes from three federal programs run through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Public housing is owned by local housing authorities, and about 970,000 households live in it nationwide, according to HUD. Housing Choice Vouchers, still widely called Section 8, let you rent from a private landlord, and HUD says your share is "usually 30% of your adjusted monthly income," though it can go as high as 40%. Project-based Section 8 attaches the subsidy to a specific building, so you apply with the property manager and the help stays with the unit if you move out.

The biggest source of income-restricted apartments is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC. HUD's database counts 55,345 tax credit projects with 3.9 million units placed in service from 1987 through 2024. These buildings set aside units for households earning up to 50% or 60% of the area median income, and rent on those units can't top 30% of the income limit. That's the key difference: LIHTC rent is fixed to the limit, not your paycheck, so if you earn well under the limit, you can still end up paying a big share of your income.

HUD's 2026 income limits took effect May 1, a month later than usual. Here's what they look like in three cities where renters often search for income-based housing.

The 60% limit applies to most tax credit units. The 50% limit is the general ceiling for vouchers, and the 80% limit is the ceiling for public housing, though by federal rule at least 75% of new voucher families each year must be extremely low income, which in Charlotte means $35,200 or less for a family of four.

Those limits are higher than many people expect, and they reach well into the middle of the local renter market. In Charlotte, the median renter household earned $62,288 in 2024, according to the US Census Bureau. Typical market rent there was $1,729 in September 2026, according to RentDataNow data built on the Zillow Observed Rent Index. A single person earning exactly the 60% limit would need to keep rent at $1,233 to stay at 30% of income. About 51% of Charlotte renter households already pay 30% or more.

The math is tighter in Greenville, where the median renter household earned $49,592 and typical rent is $1,564, up 3.1% in a year. Renters there earn less than renters in the other two cities, though fewer of them, about 42%, pay 30% or more. In Minneapolis, renters earned a median $51,867, typical rent is $1,747, up 3.1%, and about 47% pay 30% or more.

Qualifying is the easy part. Getting in is harder. In Charlotte, INLIVIAN, the city's housing authority, says its tenant-based voucher list is closed to new applicants, with more than 6,000 households already on it. In Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority's federal voucher list is also closed. It did open applications October 13 to 15 for Bring It Home, a new state-funded voucher for households at or below 50% of the area median income who pay more than 30% of income in rent. MPHA said it was the first time since 2019 that it had taken public applications for any tenant-based voucher.

In Greenville, The Greenville Housing Authority has advertised open waitlists for project-based units at Stratham Place and at Southernside East, which is for residents 55 and older. Its FAQ says the regular voucher list reopens "when most people on the current waiting list have been served."

Families who got a tenant-based voucher nationally in the year through 2025 had waited an average of 29 months, according to HUD's Picture of Subsidized Households. For public housing, the average wait was 19 months. Those figures count only people who made it off a list, not those still waiting.

Because the waits are long, the most practical move is to apply to several lists at once and to check tax credit properties directly, since many keep their own waitlists and some have openings. Each of these states has a free search site. North Carolina has NCHousingSearch.org, backed by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. South Carolina has SCHousingSearch.com, run by SC Housing. In Minnesota, the nonprofit HousingLink tracks openings and waitlists. One warning from HUD: tax credit owners aren't required to raise rents when income limits go up, but many do, so ask what the rent will be at your renewal.

For more on the math, see how much rent you can afford under the 30% rule and Charlotte rent prices in 2026.

Sources

• HUD User, FY 2026 income limits and Multifamily Tax Subsidy Project income limits, effective May 1, 2026
• HUD, Housing Choice Vouchers and HUD, Public Housing
• HUD User, LIHTC database
• HUD User, Picture of Subsidized Households, 2025
• 24 CFR 982.201, voucher eligibility and income targeting
• INLIVIAN, Housing Choice Voucher waiting list
• MPHA, Bring It Home waitlist announcement (October 1, 2026)
• The Greenville Housing Authority, waitlist
• US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates, 2024, tables B25119 and B25070
• RentDataNow city rent data, anchored to the Zillow Observed Rent Index, September 2026