What does this measure?

The proportion of household income that goes toward monthly rent, utilities, and fuel, calculated by dividing median rent by median household income for renters.

Why is this important?

This figure indicates how affordable housing is for renters. The federal Housing and Urban Development Department guideline for affordability is that rent should consume no more than 30% of household income.

How is the region performing?

Region-wide, 34% of the median household income went toward rent in 2020-24, greater than the national figure of 32% and the statewide (excluding NYC) figure of 28%.

Most counties in the region had proportions that exceed the federal guideline for affordability except for Greene at 26% and Sullivan at 30%. Orange had the highest percentage at 37% followed by Columbia and Ulster at 36%.

In the region, the percentage of household income going to rent increased 7 percentage points from 2010-2014 to 2020-24. Shares decreased in most of the counties between these periods, except in Columbia, which increased 5 points.

Localities with the highest proportion of rent spent on income were the village of Ellenville (77%), the village of Bloomingburg (65%), the town of Wawarsing (63%), and the village of New Paltz and the City of Port Jervis (both at 58%). The village of Cornwall-on-Hudson had the lowest proportion of income spent on rent (15%). The populations in many other local areas were too small to yield reliable survey results.

Notes about the data

Multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau s American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Figures used in calculations are in 2023 dollars. Regional rates were calculated by weighting county medians based on share of population.