PopulationEconomy

How many households in Pennsylvania spend too much on housing?

Data updated July 26, 2024
About 1.5 million in 2022. That’s 28.6% of all Pennsylvania households. These households spent at least 30% of their total income on rent or mortgage payments and utilities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development considered households that spent more than 30% of their income on housing to be cost-burdened. Cost-burdened households may have less money for other necessities such as food, healthcare, or savings.
Showing data for
In 2022,

1.5M

households were cost burdened
In 2022,

28.6%

of households were cost burdened
The number of cost-burdened households in Pennsylvania decreased from 1.6 million in 2012 to 1.5 million in 2022. Cost burden considers both household income and housing costs, so factors affecting either of these can influence the number of burdened households. For example:
  • Changes in wages, employment status, or the number of people in a household can impact household income.
  • Changes in housing supply/demand or interest rates can affect costs.
A growing or declining US population can also affect the number of cost-burdened households. To counteract this, USAFacts analyzed the percentages of cost-burdened households rather than just the number. This prevents such population changes from skewing the data.
In 2022, 28.6% of Pennsylvania households were cost burdened, lower than the national average of 32.5%.

In Pennsylvania, 28.6% of households were cost burdened in 2022.

Share of households that spent at least 30% of their income on housing

Cost burden varies for renters and homeowners. For example, during the Great Recession (2007–2009) unemployment rose, millions of homes entered foreclosure, and rental demand increased. By 2010, cost burden had increased among renters while staying flat among homeowner households.

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Since 2012, the proportion of cost-burdened owner households in Pennsylvania has decreased from 24.9% to 20.3% in 2022. Meanwhile, the proportion of cost-burdened renter households changed from 49.9% to 48.6%.

In Pennsylvania, 48.6% of renter and 20.3% of owner households were cost burdened in 2022.

Share of households that spent at least 30% of their income on housing

In 2018–2022, the metro areas with the highest and lowest share of cost-burdened owner households were the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California metro area at 33.8% (highest) and Morgantown, West Virginia, at 12.8% (lowest). In Pennsylvania, the highest and lowest were East Stroudsburg at 25.2% and Altoona at 15.0%.

Across metro areas, 22.7% of owner households were cost burdened.

Share of owner households that spent at least 30% of their income on housing, 2018–2022

In 2018–2022, the share of renter households in metro areas that were cost burdened was 50.5%. The metro areas in the US with the highest and lowest share of cost-burdened renter households were the Greater Miami metro area at 62.6% and the Appleton, Wisconsin, area at 32.8%. In Pennsylvania, the highest and lowest were the State College area at 57.8% and the Chambersburg area at 41.5%.

Across metro areas, 50.5% of renter households were cost burdened.

Share of renter households that spent at least 30% of their income on housing, 2018–2022

The difference between the cost-burdened share of owner and renter households was narrowest in the Gettysburg, PA area, where cost burden was 20.8 percentage points higher among renters than owners, and highest in the State College, PA area where the gap was 39.6 percentage points. Within the state overall, the gap was 28.3 percentage points.

Cost-burdened households, Pennsylvania metro areas (2018-2022)

Cost-burdened households, Pennsylvania metro areas (2018-2022)

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