Most New York City residents earning the local combined median income of $70,663 are unable to afford market-rate rental housing, according to a new data report by StreetEasy.
Asking rents in March averaged $3,344, a new record, but roughly one in three citywide market-rate rental listings (37%) in the first quarter were affordable for a typical household earning the combined median income of $70,663 – during the same period in pre-pandemic 2019, roughly one in two rental listings (51%) were affordable to New Yorkers.
The city’s median income varies by demographics, but all these groups share common ground about being unable to access market-rate rental housing. The median White household income ($93,919) can only afford 64% of the city’s rental inventory, down from 75% in 2019, while those earning the median Black ($53,075) and Hispanic ($49,275) household income can afford only 14% and 10% of the market-rate rental inventory this year, respectively – down from 21% and 12% four years ago. And those earning the median Asian household income ($76,832) can only afford 47% of available inventory, a drop from 61% in 2019.
“We define ‘affordable’ homes as rentals that cost less than 50% of a household’s combined income, a commonly accepted threshold of ‘severe’ rent burden by federal and local housing agencies,” said StreetEasy Economist Kenny Lee. “NYC has traditionally been a tough market for all renters. Nearly one in three renters (32%) spent more than half of their income on rent in 2021, a slight increase from 30% in 2011 according to the NYC Housing Vacancy Survey.”
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That’s disgusting.
The standard used to be 30% of the income. Now it is 50%. The narratives just change to fit whatever the media wants. They don’t really want you to understand how utterly BAD the economy is and how BAD this leadership has been for everyone.