Report: Almost half of Austin renters spend more than 30% of their income on rent

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A national rental housing report released last week found nearly half of renters in the Austin metro are classified as "cost burdened," spending 30% or more of their annual incomes on housing and utilities. The trends happening in Austin mirror national figures that reveal increasingly more people navigating climbing rents and wages unable to keep up with heightened housing costs.

Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) released its "America's Rental Housing 2024" report on Thursday. That report found a record 22.4 million renter households in the United States spent more than 30% of their income on housing and utility expenses in 2022, up two million additional renter households compared to 2019.

Those national trends are near perfectly replicated in the Austin metro, where nearly 48% of renter households were classified as "cost burdened."

What's the status of rental costs, burdens in the Austin area?

Nearly 196,000 Austin-area renter households put more than 30% of their income toward housing expenses. More than 94,000 renter households were found to have "severe cost burdens," or were paying more than half of their income on housing.

"We do tend to think of Texas in general as being a more affordable place, but because of the composition of the renters who live there and because of what's available, we actually see cost-burdened rates of about 48% in the Austin metro area," said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at Harvard University's JCHS.

Historically, Texas has been considered a more affordable state in the country, particularly when it came to housing costs. Right now, Airgood-Obrycki said, the Austin metro is seeing a cooling rental market where rental costs are decreasing year over year.

Despite that dip in rental costs, she said that doesn't account for the massive, double-digit percentage increases in Austin rent prices during the pandemic. Those now-elevated costs are also compounded by Texas seeing an increased loss of low-rent units in recent years.

"In Texas, you see the increase in these higher rent units and then the loss [of units] at the lower end, and so you really see Texas struggling with these affordability challenges increasingly over the last decade," Airgood-Obrycki added.

Texas' homeless population spikes, matching national trends

Between January 2022 and January 2023, the United States' population of people experiencing homelessness climbed 71,000 people, hitting a record high of 653,100 people experiencing homelessness as of January 2023. In Texas, its homeless population jumped about 12%, from more than 24,000 people in January 2022 to over 27,000 people in January 2023.

"Texas isn't quite at the record high level [of people experiencing homelessness] for the state, which is at least positive in that respect. But in terms of the broader trends, we're seeing the state follow what we're seeing nationally." Airgood-Obrycki said. "Before the pandemic, there was actually a slight decreased in sheltered homelessness...Texas has been seeing that same decrease in sheltered [homelessness], but a large increase in unsheltered homelessness from about 2015 forward."

How are other major metros in Texas faring?

The report broke down cost burdens among renter households throughout Texas, including in its major metro areas. Among the state's most populated regions, the Austin area fared best, despite having nearly 48% of its renter households considered cost burdened.

The Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar land area revealed nearly 52% of renter households dealt with cost burdens, amounting to more than 545,000 renter households. In The San Antonio-New Braunfels region, 52.7% of renter households were designated as cost burdened, with more than 188,000 renter households impacted.

El Paso saw 54.4% of its renter households classified as cost burdened, translating to nearly 61,000 renter households. Up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 52.6% of renter households are cost burdened, accounting for more than 608,000 renter households.

While not the most densely populated areas in Texas, three places saw more than 60% of its renter households deemed cost burdened: San Angelo, Beeville and Rockport.

Just over 60% of San Angelo's renter households are cost burdened, with more than 9,600 renter households meeting the threshold. In Beeville, 60.3% of renter households are cost burdened, or 1,705 renter households. Within Rockport, 60.3% of its renter households are also classified as cost burdened, amounting to 1,309 renter households.

A closer look at Texas' cost-burdened renter analysis is available online.